


The Caged Animal

by OnlyDarylNormanFic



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Daryl Dixon Smut, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:00:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 29,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23884891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlyDarylNormanFic/pseuds/OnlyDarylNormanFic
Summary: Request: A Daryl x reader in which she’s Negan’s sister and he kinda keeps her locked away and her and Daryl meet and she helps him through and to escape and maybe comes with him and helps the group fight or something I don’t know but 100% lots of fluff (and smut as well is always appreciated) please and premature thank you. Well fluff at the end lol, angst most of the way through lol, if that’s a little better xxxSummary: The reader is curios about the man in the cage named Daryl. So, one night she sneaks out to meet the man everyone in the Sanctuary calls a monster. The two start talking and she convinces Negan to let him contribute at the Sanctuary. The two begin a friendship. Era Season 7. Sanctuary. Endgame Smut Coming...
Relationships: Daryl Dixon & Original Female Character(s), Daryl Dixon & You, Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s), Daryl Dixon/You
Comments: 20
Kudos: 56





	1. The Caged Animal - Part 1

Daryl Dixon.

The Caged Animal.

The one the others called the monster.

He was a man from the other group, Alexandria, who had dared to defy your brother Negan. Your brother had insisted on making the consequence of his insubordination one that would not only torture him but also serve as a warning to others. The message was that going against Negan would not be tolerated. Just another fucked up torture strategy that your brother commonly used nowadays in the Sanctuary to keep people scared and obedient.

So, every day at the same time, at 9:00 a.m. on the dot Negan ordered his men to lower down the man’s cage into the commons area for all to see. Here the saviors were encouraged to heckle and shame the man in any way they saw fit. This not only ensured Daryl’s torture but also brought out a comradery between the Saviors, giving them a common enemy to hate. Negan loved to come in on his coffee breaks and watch as Daryl paced and twitched. Most days he just huddled against the back wall, which the back of the cage sat against and kept his head buried as his arms wrapped around it, with his knees to his chest.

The cage was attached to a hydraulic lift rail, which when the button was pressed from the platform above, would bring the cage up to the top of the platform on the third floor. There was always a guard station at the platform, morning, noon, and night. He was caged, nearly as much as you were. The only difference was that your cage was this entire place you had begun to see as your prison.

You hated it here. You had been with your brother since the fall of the world and sure he had kept you safe. You two had survived some pretty heavy shit together. He had protected you. You could never deny that, and you did love him for that. But then he began to change into this person you now saw today. It started slowly. He thought that in order to survive being brutal to others was the only way. He found a following of psychopaths who would do his bidding for him gladly and soon he found this place. The Sanctuary.

That was when things really started getting out of hand. He realized he needed a workforce if he was ever going to make this place work. So, Negan and his men went out looking for parties of people to bring back to this new home. It started out as good intentioned. But a few party raids later, one group leader would not allow Negan to bring his people anywhere. Negan tried to explain his vision to the man, but he still refused. In a frustrated rage, Negan killed him in front of everyone else and after that, the people were more than compliant to come along with him. This is when Negan realized he had stumbled upon the perfect way to build his community and keep people in line.

After that day, it became standard procedure to take out one person per group as a warning to join them, or else. He soon branched out into doing this to people who had made safe communities. Except, their partnership would be that they would help the Sanctuary by giving them half of their food, guns, ammo, anything that Negan found useful.

Years later, Negan ran into the group from Alexandria and it went on as business as usual. Until the man in the cage defied Negan and went after him. This cost the group two lives instead of one and it cost this caged man his freedom. For how long, you didn’t know. Your brother had become ruthless in more ways than one and you wouldn’t be surprised if he let the man rot in there.

You walked out onto the walkway that overlooked the commons area, timidly looking over at the caged man with sadness in your eyes for a moment. You forced a stoic expression as you approached your brother who was leaning over the rail and watching with delight as the saviors heckled Daryl and hit against the steel bars of his cage.

Negan looked over when he saw you walking over to him and smiled an easy smile.

“Afternoon, Y/N,” he said, looking back at the scene with glee.

“Afternoon,” you said in a monotoned voice as you stood by his side and looked down at the scene as well.

It was the middle of the day and Daryl had gotten up and was gripping the bars, glaring down the men and women who were saying the worst things about him and his group. He pushed his hands off the bars when one of the men tried to hit his cup into Daryl’s hand and began to pace angrily back and forth.

You grimaced as you watched them torture the man.

Negan looked over and noticed this. He rubbed his forehead a little in frustration and looked over at you.

“Do I have to go over this with you again, Y/N?” Negan asked, looking at you with serious, yet frustrated eyes.

You didn’t look back at him, you just stared straight ahead at the caged man, animal, and replied.

“No. He is the enemy,” you said, repeating the lines he had told you so many times in a completely submissive and monotoned voice.

“And why is that?” Negan asked, peering over at you curiously as he tested you.

You took a deep breath.

“Because he did not obey the rules and he tried to kill you,” you said.

“Which would…” Negan said, rolling his eyes and twirling his hand around and around, gesturing for you to continue.

“Which would mean that all of these good, hard-working people would be in jeopardy again; possibly die…Or worse,” you said, still watching the man in the cage, trying to convince yourself of the words you were reciting, the same words he always made you recite when you questioned him.

“That’s right,” Negan said, nodding in agreement.

“Look at all those fine citizens down there, Y/N,” he said gesturing down at the commons again.

You forced your eyes to the full scene in front of you. It was true. If it wasn’t for Negan and his men most of these people would likely have died long ago or soon enough, especially the children.

“I mean, I don’t want to be the one to keep tellin’ you, Y/N. But without me, this whole place would fall apart. And God knows what would happen to these people…”

Negan started rambling on, preaching about himself, as usual. You turned your attention back to the man in the cage and watched as he glared down the people in front of him with primal anger. You could tell just by his eyes how dangerous he was. Maybe Negan was right.

And then it happened.

One of the parents was angry with their small child who was crying about something or another. The parent grabbed away their stuffed animal and threw it in the man’s cage.

“There! Now you will have to fight the monster to get it back! That’s what you get for not listening!” the man shouted to his young child, that was around 5 years old.

The little boy looked up at Daryl with innocent tears in his eyes and started to ball his eyes out as he looked up at the scary monster in the cage.

Daryl winced at this and for a second you thought you saw him look over at the child with sadness in his eyes.

Negan whistled, causing the angry mob outside his cage to look up obediently at Negan above them.

“Alright, alright. As much as I *do* enjoy watching my favorite citizens give the enemy some hell. I’m sure we all have work to do. So, let’s get back at it!” he ordered, with a smug smile on his face.

The crowd nodded and swiftly dispersed, going back to the jobs they each had as quickly as they had gathered.

Negan patted you on the back.

“I’m glad we had this little talk, Y/N. Why don’t you go back upstairs? I have to head out for another mission, and I don’t like to think of you wandering around with the likes of these assholes I leave in charge,” he said, looking at you pointedly.

You nodded, looking over at him with a small, forced smile.

“I will. Promise,” you said, looking up at him with a convincing smile.

He smiled happily back and nodded in approval as he turned around toward the door.

“Keep ‘em in line, Simon,” Negan ordered as he walked by Simon, who was holding the door open for him, and walked out the door.

You looked back at the man in the cage, who had stopped pacing and was gripping the bars again, his forehead leaning against them as he tried to slow his breathing.

You watched as that little boy bravely came back over to the cage and tapped on the bar.

This startled the man and he snapped his head over at the sound, quickly growling defensively and walking back into the cage.

This caused the little boy to jump back in fear, a few feet, almost running away, but he held his ground.

Daryl looked over at the kid, blinking a few times as if he thought he was seeing things.

When the kid realized Daryl wasn’t going to charge at him. He slowly took one step in front of the other until he was back at the cage’s bars.

Daryl shook the hair out of his eyes and looked over at the boy, looking over at him with nervous confusion.

The boy smiled up at him.

Daryl nodded, blinking rapidly as he rocked nervously back and forth on his bare feet.

The boy pointed at his stuffed animal, which had flown toward the back of Daryl’s cage.

“My wolf?” the boy asked, reaching his little finger inside the cage bars to point at his animal, behind Daryl.

Daryl looked over at the tiny finger, reaching inside his cage with pure innocent trust. And then turned around and saw the small stuffed animal shaped like a wolf laying on the ground behind him. He looked back at the kid for a second, showing no emotion, before walking over to it. He picked it up and looked at it with the innocent of a child all his own, smoothing out its hair as he pet its back a few times.

It reminded him of simpler times.

He turned and walked over to the boy, crouching down until he was eye level with him.

The boy looked up at him apprehensive but calmer now.

Daryl looked back down at the wolf and then back at the kid with a small smile.

He pushed the stuffed animal and through the bars, handing it to the kid.

The kid grabbed it from him, hugging it as if it were his most precious friend, closing his eyes with a happy smile as he hugged it for dear life.

Daryl sat there silently, watching the kid’s happiness radiate around him as he held onto his favorite toy. Daryl couldn’t help but feel happiness somewhere deep down inside him and he smiled a little at the sight. The kid opened his eyes after a few moments and looked at him.

“Thank you, monster,” he said, smiling up at him genuinely and gratefully.

Daryl winced at his words, looking away with hurt for a second before bringing his eyes back to the boy.

“Take care, alright?” he said, forcing a small smile for the boy as he stood back up.

The kid nodded, hugging the stuffed animal again, so tightly. The kid then turned and walked away, back toward his home.

You had seen all of this.

You looked over at the so-called “monster” with curiosity at what you had just witnessed. You watched the man take a deep breath, running his hands through his hair with exhaustion in his eyes as he rubbed them. And then watched him slump down on the back wall and resume his reclusive position, trying to get some sleep while he could.

Curious. You thought as you turned and walked back to your room, which was the highest towered room in this place. You laid down yourself for a nap and relived that scene over and over in your mind, tossing and turning as you tried to figure it out. Negan had sworn to you and everyone here that this man was a ruthless killer, with no regard for human life. But what you had just seen, proved different. In fact, all the time you had studied this creature from afar, there wasn’t one time that you had seen him act violently unless severely provoked or if someone said something about his friends, especially Abe and Glenn. Which when you thought about it was very understandable.

You fell into an uneasy sleep listening to your brother’s speech in your head, which collided with the memories you had stored of watching the caged man since he had been here. You awoke in an uneasy sweat to the image of the man hung on the fence outside, dead, with everyone cheering and laughing as the life drained from his sad eyes.

You sat up straight, feeling a few tears running down your cheeks as you awoke abruptly from this nightmare. You sat up and noticed that the sun had gone down. You got out of bed and walked to the window, seeing the very same fence as in your dream below you and watching the walkers chomp and bit away, trying to claw their way in, but the rods and chains kept them in place. The sight made your stomach queasy. You walked over to your night table and lit your lantern, putting on your sweater and slippers. You grabbed the lantern and walked to your door.

You looked at the handle unsure for a moment. But you took a deep breath of resolve. You had to know who this man was. You had to know if he deserved to be in that cell or not. You had to know what kind of man this was. You turned the doorknob and walked out of your room. You walked down the long, winding stairs to the third floor and to the platform where the cage had been raised about an hour before at sunset.

You walked slowly over to it, noticing a guard next to the cage sitting on a chair with his back turned to Daryl, reading a newspaper.

“Why don’t you take a break and get me some dinner, Savior,” you said, walking into the corridor and announcing your presence.

The savior quickly stood up and to attention when he noticed who you were.

“Sorry, ma’am?” he asked, fumbling a little to remove his cap in respect.

You smiled, walking over to him and putting your hand reassuringly on his shoulder.

“Travis is it?” you asked, turning on your charm as you smiled happily back at him.

He nodded, looking to the ground with a smile as he replied, “Yes. Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, Travis. It seems I’ve slept a little too long this afternoon and missed dinner. Would you be a dear and go fix me something to eat? I can watch over this one,” you said, looking over at the man in the cage who was sitting the furthest away from the platform.

He had his knees to his chest and his hands in front of his face as he glared you down with angry protection of himself in his eyes.

Travis looked over at Daryl and then back at you, scratching his head with his hat a few times as he thought it over.

“I don’t know, ma’am… Negan gave us strict orders about who is allowed to be alone with this one,” he said, gesturing back to the man in the cage.

“Oh, Travis, you know my brother. He is always so overprotective over both me and his pet project here. Yet, we clearly don’t know all we could about him and his people. I’m just saying that there might be a better way to get information from him than just torturing him. I promise, if nothing comes of it, I’ll let it go. But I think it’s worth a shot, don’t you? I mean if we really do want to beat them,” you said, looking pointedly at him as you batted your eyes at him.

Travis smiled over at you and nodded a little sheepishly.

“Yeah. Alright…But you be careful, ya hear?” Travis asked, looking over at you with sincere eyes.

You smiled and nodded gratefully, patting his shoulder a few more times.

“Thank you, Travis,” you said sincerely.

He nodded silently back with another smile and walked off toward the door.

“Oh, and Travis?” you asked, looking back at him.

“Yes, ma’am?” Travis asked, pausing to hear your words.

“Let’s keep this between me and you for right now. I mean, no need to worry my brother. He has plenty on his plate already. Okay?” you asked, with another smile.

Travis nodded with an obedient smile.

“Sure, Y/N…I’ll be back with your dinner,” he said and turned and disappeared into the building.

Your smile disappeared as soon as he left. You pursed your lips, taking a few deep breaths of courage as you turned to face the man who had caused so much trouble for your brother. You turned around and walked towards the cage, bringing the lantern that was sitting by Travis’ chair up and shining it inside.

The light hit his eyes and he winced, quickly closing them and blocking the light from his eyes with his hands.

“Sorry,” you said, quickly pulling the lantern back and out of his eyes.

You set the lantern on the table next to the cage and turned the chair so that it was facing him. You sat down and looked over at him with timid curiosity.

You ran your hands up and down your pajama pants and thighs, looking around nervously as you tried to find the words.

“So…I guess I should introduce myself…” you said, rolling your eyes and laughing a little at the thought of someone in this place not knowing you were Negan’s sister.

“My name’s Y/N-” you started, only to be interrupted by his gruff voice, emerging from the shadows.

“I know who ya are,” he said, gruffly and angrily. But quietly.

You looked over at him with surprised eyes.

“Oh, well…I didn’t know if you knew-” you started apologetically again, interrupted again by the man’s dissonant timing.

“People talk,” he said, looking over at you with an even harder glare, looking you over and wondering why the hell you were sitting in front of him right now.

You looked at him curiously.

“Yeah? And what do, ‘The People,’ say about me?” you asked with a more innocent smile and the tilt of your head.

Daryl’s face twitched a little as he took in your very convincing act at being innocent in all of this. He looked you over curiously for a minute, before looking back in your eyes and replying.

“That you’re that asshole’s and everyone must obey you because of that,” he said, glaring over at you as he tried to figure out why you were here. Your motive.

“Wow… I didn't know I had so much power,” you said with the roll of your eyes and a nervous laugh as you looked down at the sleeping people below you.

Daryl huffed, highly doubting that was the case.

You looked down at the people sleeping below. Families with kids, people with no one, every one of them with a different story.

“I don’t know how I qualify for such a title,” you said, grimacing a little at the thought.

Daryl said nothing but looked over at you curiously again with something softer in his eyes as he took your purity in. You didn’t seem to be testing him. Actually, it felt like the opposite. It’s like when you meet someone else that you know has been through some awful shit. That look. He knew that look you had all too well. Still, he said nothing. He was not at all ready to trust anyone here yet, especially Negan’s own sister.

“Just a perk of bein’ related to him, I guess,” Daryl said, looking down at his hands as he fidgeted with them, propped on his knees.

You looked over at him with a shrug and sadness in your eyes.

“I guess…” you said, looking around you as if you felt completely alone here.

You warmed your arms up, rubbing your hands up and down them as you hugged yourself protectively.

“Doesn’t mean I have any choice about anything that goes on here. It’s his rule, not mine,” you said, with a little bitterness in your voice as you looked back down at the people below you.

Daryl silently took you in again, every thought and word you said. He could tell that you weren’t used to opening up. But, hell? A place like this? He didn’t blame you.

So, he bit.

“Can I ask ya something?” he asked, looking warily over at you with that same protective stare.

You met his eyes and nodded with a small smile at how polite the man in a cage was.

“Sure,” you said, quietly.

“How’d you…How’d you get all of this?” he asked, gesturing around at the Sanctuary.

You cleared your throat, looking away again, this time with shame in your eyes.

“It started out innocent enough…” you said, taking a deep breath as you relived those days of hell that were behind you but always managed to keep scratching at the doors of your mind.

“We just wanted a place to be safe. Being out there? For that long? ... It does things to people,” you said in a near whisper.

You looked around this place with a small smile, tears coming to your eyes.

“In the beginning…We meant well. He meant well,” you said, with a sad smile and one lone tear escaping your eye.

You quickly brushed it away, laughing at him nervously as you regained your composure, or tried to.

Daryl looked over at you with slight sympathy at your tears and nudged his nose up at you.

“And now?” he asked, peering over at you curiously.

You looked over at him and shrugged, defeated as you thought about that question.

“Now? It’s anyone’s guess. He thrives off this place. These people. And I’m just… stuck,” you said, with a blank expression on your face as you admitted out loud for the first time to yourself how you really felt being here.

“Yeah. I get that,” he said with a small smile, trying to lighten your mood.

He didn’t understand it. But there was this energy about you. So fragile. So pure. You were nothing like the man who had him locked in here.

You looked over at him again, laughing a little as you looked him over curiously yourself.

He didn’t seem like the man that your brother had told you he was. He seemed gentle and kind. Then you remembered the kid from earlier today.

“Can I ask you something?” you asked, peering over at him with curious indecision in your eyes.

He looked back over at you, his eyes softening when he saw the look in yours to him.

He shrugged.

“I ain’t got any place to be,” he said, keeping his eyes on yours.

You smiled.

“Why’d you give the boy that stuffed animal back?” you asked the question that had been on your mind all day since you had witnessed it.

He looked back at you and huffed with laughter a little, shaking his bangs back and forth on his forehead before locking eyes with yours again.

“It’s not his fault his father’s an asshole,” he said as simply as could be, staring over at you wondering why you wouldn’t do the same.

You looked over at him with wonder and a smile at his answer.

“You know… Not many people in this world, especially where you are at, would do something so kind,” you said peering over at him curiously again.

He looked over at you too with the same look, again trying to wonder what this was.

“It’s just what you do for those that need it,” he said, matter-of-factly.

You giggled a little, your smile bursting open for him fully at this.

“And is that what you do? Daryl? Do you help the helpless?” you asked, hoping beyond hope that that was true.

He shrugged.

“The way I grew up…” he started nibbling on his lower lip as he fidgeted with his hands again, avoiding your eyes.

“The only thing ya could do was protect yourself… When the world ended? All that changed,” he said, taking a deep breath himself as he looked off into the darkness.

“And after the world ended?” you asked, so curious about him as you leaned in for his story.

“After the world ended… It was bad at first. But I found some good people. I learned how to help those that needed it… from a few good friends,” he said, tearing up himself now a little as he thought about the people he loved, so far away from him.

“I’m so sorry…” you said, point-blank and meaning every word.

He glanced up at you, glaring at you for a second with hate before he took in your sad expression.

He averted his eyes down to the ground of the cage and nodded, hugging his knees with his arms protectively again as he looked timidly back at you.

“They were good men,” he said, gulping down his tears as he looked away again, remembering that fateful night when their group was torn apart.

You two sat there in silence for a few minutes and soon the young savior arrived with a plate of a roast beef sandwich, veggies, and potatoes, with a glass of water.

“Here Ma’am,” he said, dutifully reaching out your dinner to you.

You took the plate and glass and smiled gratefully back up at him.

“Thank you! Why don’t you take a half-hour break and then you can relieve me?” you asked, looking up at him with a sweet, innocent smile.

He looked over at Daryl and then back at you. He nodded.

“Yes Ma’am,” he said and turned and walked out, secretly happy for the break.

“He’s a good kid,” you said as if to yourself as you raised the sandwich to your lip.

Daryl growled quietly, looking over at you with hunger in your eyes.

You got up and sat down in front of the door of his cage. You grabbed the veggies and one half of the potato and slid the rest to him.

“Here,” you said with a smile as you pushed it into his cage.

Daryl quickly crawled over and grabbed the sandwich in his hands.

“Somethin’ wrong with it?” he asked, warily.

“Yeah. I always order a plate full of poison,” you said as you ate a couple of cooked carrots from your hand and sat back down on the chair.

Daryl looked at it warily for another second before reaching out and grabbing it. He bit into it like a ravenous wild animal. He closed his eyes and savored the taste. He hadn’t eaten anything but dog food since he had been locked up. When he was done with his sandwich he chewed up and swallowed half of the baked potato you had given him.

You smiled to yourself as you watched him eat, feeling happy that you could give him something to enjoy in this hell. You chewed down your potato and carrots and took a few gulps of your water.

Daryl looked over at the glass of water and licked his lips.

“Do you want it? I can always get more,” you said, reaching over and pushing the glass through the cage door.

Daryl grabbed it and quickly gulped it down, as he quenched his unbearable thirst.

You reached your hand back inside the cage to grab the glass back.

He peered over at you and slowly brought the glass over to your hand. You grabbed it and began to pull your hand out when he quickly grabbed your wrist and pulled you forward.

You gasped in surprise, wincing at his tight grip as he pulled you towards the bars of his cage.

He looked over at you with angry eyes.

“What is this?” he asked with confused anger, growling deep in his throat.

“Let go of me…” you said, your heart pounding with fear, seeing the savage look in his eyes.

“Please?” you whispered, looking over at him with begging, scared eyes.

He held it tightly for another moment before letting go of your hand.

You quickly pulled your hand out of the cage, gripping your wrist protectively with your other hand. You put the glass down and looked over at him with scared confusion.

You two stood at a silent stalemate as he looked you over again. He could admit that you looked innocent enough. But what he couldn’t wrap his head around was why you were here or what you wanted from him.

You nodded with understanding eyes back over at him as he tried to figure you out.

“I’m not here with a motive…Well, I guess *technically* that’s not true,” you said, looking nervously back over at him as you sat the glass back down onto the small table.

“Well then, what’s the truth?” he asked, starting to pace back and forth in his cell angrily.

You took a deep breath and forced your eyes to stay on his, your eyes pained as you spoke.

“I…I don’t mean you any harm. I promise,” you said, holding his eyes with yours.

Daryl stopped and walked to the edge of the cage, gripping the bars and leaning his face towards you.

“Then what do ya want? I ain’t some sideshow act!” he growled, gesturing to the people below who spent day after day taunting him.

“I know. I’m sorry…” you said looking away sadly as your heart ached for the man.

“Things didn’t always used to be this way…” you said.

You looked away far off into some distant happy memories that Daryl couldn’t quite see. But he did see the bittersweet longing in your eyes.

Daryl cleared his throat, taking a few deeps breaths, trying to calm himself down.

“Sorry,” Daryl growled in barely a whisper.

“What do you have to be sorry for?” you asked, with disbelief in your eyes.

Daryl shrugged.

“…We all used to have a place or someone we miss from back then…” Daryl said, shaking the hair out of his eyes as he looked away and thought about his brother and all of the friends he had lost along the way. Especially, Glenn and Abe. He felt the sting of fresh tears threatening to fall as he relived the hell that had been that night just a few nights ago.

“I’m sorry, too…” you said softly back to him as you watched him gulp back his tears.

This was the “monster” everyone had been talking about?

He quickly wiped them away and turned around, putting his back to you as he composed himself.

“You wanted to know why I came here?” you asked, peering over at him curiously.

He looked back at you and nodded, not saying a word as he waited for your answer.

You slowly walked over to the cage door as you spoke.

“I came here to meet the man…the man that everyone keeps telling me is a monster…” you said, peering curiously over at him, wishing you could see him better in the near darkness.

“Why’d ya wanna do that?” he growled into the darkness, looking away from you again as he felt the sting of your words.

You reached forward and leaned your hand back onto one of the bars on the cage door.

“Because…I don’t see a monster in you,” you said truthfully and quietly.

Daryl slowly turned and glared you down, his blue eyes shining in the dark as the moonlight from a nearby window hit them. He slowly walked toward you, standing there still for a minute and then lunged forward, grabbing the bars tightly and pushing his body towards yours.

You gasped and jumped back a few feet, with startled eyes. You quickly regained your footing and looked defiantly back at him with a glare of your own this time.

Daryl smirked to himself. There it was. There was a little fight in you, after all, he thought to himself with amusement.

“I am a monster. But I ain’t the one they say I am,” he growled, smiling over at you with amusement as he watched your reactions to him being so close to you.

You could tell he was reading everything about you, whatever he was picking up on he seemed to enjoy. So, you took another few feet forward towards him, showing him you weren’t afraid.

“What does that mean?” you asked, walking back over to face him face to face, just inches apart and separated by bars.

You stood there with your arms at your side, leaning up toward him with full trust and vulnerability again.

Daryl smiled a little at your tenacity and leaned in further, glaring you down with something you couldn’t quite place in his eyes as he replied.

“To survive this world? Well, everyone is part monster,” Daryl said, rolling his tongue around in his mouth as he looked you over.

“…Even you,” Daryl said, nudging his nose over at you with nothing but serious eyes.

You laughed a little with confusion as you thought about what he had said. You certainly didn’t *feel* like a monster. But maybe most monsters didn’t.

You were looking over at him curiously about to reply when you heard Travis speak from behind you.

“30 minutes are up, Ma’am,” Travis said, standing respectfully at the doorway a few yards away.

You held up your finger to Travis, keeping your eyes on Daryl, searching them for the answer to a question you didn’t even know yet.

“This was…interesting,” you said, with a small smile.

Daryl huffed and shrugged, staying silent.

“Have a goodnight, Daryl,” you said, smiling at him one more time before turning to walk away.

“Night, Princess,” Daryl growled quietly.

You smiled at this and turned halfway around again to look back at him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” you said with a nod and a smile before turning back and walking to the doorway.

You put your hand on Travis’ shoulder and looked over at him with a grateful smile.

“Thank You, Travis… And you don’t have to call me ma’am every time,” you said with a laugh.

“Yes, ma’am-

I mean-” Travis stammered a little.

“Goodnight Travis,” you said with another small laugh.

You looked back over at the man in the cage, your eyes turning serious with curiosity again.

“Goodnight, Daryl,” you said, speaking his name kindly to him for the first time.

You stared over at him for another few seconds before forcing another smile toward Travis and walking back to your room.

Daryl watched as you smiled and laughed with the man, trying to deny the thoughts he had of how beautiful he thought you were. He watched your eyes and thoughts freeze on him again one more time before leaving.

Once he was sure you were gone, he laid down in the middle of his cage, staring up at the ceiling with nothing but questions in his mind. Why on earth would you of all people come here to see him? And what did it mean that you would see him tomorrow? He fell into an uneasy sleep, half-worried this would be a trap and half-worried that it wasn’t. Because if it wasn’t, he would have a hard time denying how beautiful and brave you were. He fell to sleep soon enough, exhausted from another long day in that damn cage.

You retreated to your bedroom as quickly and quietly as possible, noticing that Negan still had not returned from his trip. You didn’t want him knowing you were sneaking out at night. He had a very strict rule about that. He didn’t trust even his men around you, at least most of them. Travis was one of the soldiers that had a kind heart. Whenever you needed a guard you always asked for him.

You retreated into your bedroom, locking all three of the deadbolts to your door. You turned around and looked around your room, noticing the moon shining in through your window. You walked over to it and looked down. You heard them before you saw them. Those undead things impaled, tied, and chained up outside the fence. You watched them cawing and clawing, trying as hard as they could to reach something to destroy.

Your brow furrowed.

Had the man in the cage been right? Were all humans somehow monsters? Just like them? Even you?

You shut your window, locking it and closing the curtains. It was no use though. Even with that you could still always hear them in your head and see them in your dreams.

You got into bed, pulling the covers over you and nestling into your pillow. You looked up at the small red lamp on the nightstand beside you, reaching over to shut it off. You laid back on your pillow settling in for the night with only one thing on your mind. The monster named Daryl.

As you fell asleep that night you wonder what else this man in the cage was capable of. You also wondered why you were so intrigued by this man as your mind and body wandered off to sleep…

\-----

You awoke the next morning to the same sounds of the people beneath your room going about their daily business. You heard Saviors barking orders at people and people’s indistinct chatter as the Sanctuary awoke for the day.

You wiped the sleep from your eyes and got up out of bed, shivering a little as your bare feet hit the cold concrete floor beneath you. You quickly pulled on your sweater, put on your favorite pair of jeans, and put socks on, shoving your feet into your boots and lacing them up. You grabbed your gun and holstered on your belt.

You were about to walk out of your room when you caught a glance at yourself in the mirror. You hesitated before walking over and looking at yourself critically in the mirror for the first time in forever.

You walked closer towards your reflection, feeling like it was a stranger looking back at you. Your hair was a wild mess and your cheeks had dirty smudges on them. You touched your reflection in the mirror, peering curiously over at this new woman you had become before reaching over to grab your hairbrush.

You brushed your hair out, putting it neatly into a ponytail.

You grabbed your water bottle, pouring some into your hands as you went to work cleaning your face. When you were done, you examined yourself again.

“Better,” you said, shrugging to yourself as you turned to walk out of the door.

Before you opened the door and left, you looked back at your own reflection again, silently wondering why you suddenly cared about how you looked. Your thoughts turned to the man in the cage and you felt a flutter in your gut that told you the unspoken answer. You pushed it down, ignoring it as you stepped out into the world for the day.

You heard the echo of your boots as they hit the steel stairs beneath them. You walked down into the commons area, taking your place by Negan’s side.

“Hey, Y/N!” Negan greeted you with a happy smile.

You forced a smile back at him and nodded.

“Morning,” you said, looking over at the crowd and then at Daryl, who was sitting back in his cage looking up at you with wild, curious eyes.

The side of your mouth twitched into a smile before you hid it, turning your attention back to your brother.

“What do you have planned today?” you asked, looking over at him curiously, still feeling Daryl’s eyes on you.

“You never ask me that,” Negan said, looking sideways at you for a second.

You shrugged, forcing another smile as you looked innocently over at him.

“Can’t I be interested?” you asked, forcing your smile as he looked you over.

When he was sure he was just reading into things that weren’t there he smiled and nodded, looking back down at his people as he answered you.

“I’m headed to Alexandria with the boys. Time to collect,” he said, peering over at Daryl with a cocky grin as he thought about how he had made their people bow to him.

You followed his gaze and your stomach turned as you watched Daryl cower under Negan’s stare.

You noticed Travis walking over to take over guarding of Daryl. He looked up at you, smiling and wave.

You smiled back and gave him a small wave.

Negan noticed the exchange and looked over at you curiously, dragging his tongue back and forth against his bottom lip as his inner wheels turned.

“What’s that about?” Negan asked, looking over at you with that curious, cocky smile of his.

You looked over at him confused for a second until you put together his inner thoughts.

“That?” you said, looking over at Travis briefly and then back at your brother.

“That’s nothing…He’s just nice, that’s all,” you said, smiling innocently over at your brother.

“Nice, huh?” Negan said, looking curiously back at Travis.

“Well, he certainly isn’t the type I pegged you for. But, he’s a good man…” Negan said, shrugging a little.

You looked over at Negan curiously, noticing the quiet approval in his eyes.

Maybe this was your way in?

“Well, you know it is funny you should ask because I was thinking about the man in the cage,” you said, looking timidly over at Negan as you approached the subject.

“What about him?” Negan asked looking over at you curiously.

You shrugged, looking back over at the Daryl trying to mask your curiosity about him.

“I just think it seems like such a shame to keep him locked up when we have so much work to do around here. I was thinking that maybe he could help out. I mean we can always use extra hands and Travis would be with him the whole time,” you said, looking back over at Negan with no emotion showing at all on your face as he looked you over.

You clicked his tongue on his teeth a few times, looking over at Daryl and then to Travis and back at you. His eyes showed a glint of humor in them as he smirked over at you.

“So, I assume that you will be helping Travis watch the prisoner?” he asked, chuckling a little.

“I mean, it would be rude not to since it was my idea… And like I said, we need all the hands we can get. Maybe we could have him help me in the garden where there is less foot traffic,” you said.

Negan stared off at the man in the cage for another few moments before deciding.

“I guess we have enough security around this place to make sure he doesn’t run. Sure…Why don’t we put the dog on a leash for a while and see if he can obey. He does me no good in there all day…Of course, it does tickle me to watch him squirm,” he said looking over at you with that vindictive smile of his.

Your stomach turned at his words.

“Let’s go talk to Daryl and *Travis*,” he said smiling at you with amusement again before walking off towards the stairs.

You fought the urge to roll your eyes and forced your feet forward to follow behind him.

Daryl had been studying this entire exchange and locked eyes with yours as you followed his captor down the stairs.

You walked towards the cage with Negan, avoiding the whispers and wondering eyes that followed you.

Negan held out his hand and within a moment Dwight came over and put his bat in his hand. Negan looked over at Daryl and chuckled, slowly running his bat across the bars.

Daryl winced and withdrew to the back of the cage, shaking at the sight of the bat that had killed his friends. In that moment Daryl was sure you had told Negan about your exchange last night and was sure he was about to be eliminated the same way his friends were.

Negan ran his bat back and forth across the bars a few more times, for effect, before finally speaking to the man in the cage.

“So, you’ve been in here a while, Daryl…And *so far* you’ve been a good doggie…So, the question becomes what do I do with you now?” Negan asked, shouting loudly for the crowd that had gathered round to watch.

“Y/N here thought that we might give you a chance to…contribute,” he said, slowly sliding his tongue back and forth against his bottom lip as he smiled over at Daryl.

“Is this something you’d like? To get out of this cage and get your hands dirty for me?” he asked, leaning back a little as he threw his bat over to rest on his right shoulder.

Daryl looked over at him through his mud-stained bangs, still cowering to him. He said nothing.

“I can’t hear you!” Negan shouted, ordering him to answer him.

Daryl looked over at you and you nodded, trying to silently encourage him to agree. Daryl looked into your eyes, trying to figure out your motives. He didn’t know why, but he trusted you.

He looked back at Negan and nodded a silent, ‘yes.’

“What’s that?” Negan asked, holding his hand to his ear and leaning in towards the cage.

“I’ll do it,” Daryl said shortly, looking around at all of the people staring at him with worry in his eyes.

“Oh, them? Don’t you worry about them…People are a resource and if we can put those two hands of yours to use instead of you just eating all my damn food, then all the better!” Negan said and turned his back to the cage to speak with his people.

“Because everyone here understands the purpose of this place. Right?!” Negan shouted looking each and everyone one of them in the eye with a look that said do not dare fuck with him or his wishes.

“Because who do you bow to around here?” Negan asked, sticking his tongue in between his teeth and he surveyed his people.

“Negan,” they all said loudly and in unison.

Negan laughed and leaned back, with his barbed wire bat on his shoulder and a satisfied smile.

“That’s right!” Negan said, looking over at you with a glint in his eye and a wiggle of his eyebrow.

“So! You will do what I say. Isn’t that right?!” Negan exclaimed, looking gleefully over at the crowd of people, putting his hand to his ear as he awaited their answer.

“Yes, sir,” they all said in unison.

Negan clicked his tongue as he looked them all over, walking back and forth a few times, surveying their response. Most just put their heads down and looked dutifully down at the ground. There were a few men closer to the back that had their eyes forward and their jaws clenched, but they stood there silent regardless.

When Negan was sure that no one was going to defy his orders, he turned to Travis who was guarding the cage and smiled over at him. He looked over at you and winked before walking over to Travis, who was shaking like a leaf at Negan’s attention.

Negan noticed and when he walked over to him. He put his hand on Travis’ shoulder.

This caused Travis to flinch a little, but he remained solid as a stone as he looked straightforward like the dutiful soldier that he was.

“Hey… Relax!” Negan said in an easy tone, patting the man’s shoulder softly a few times.

Travis finally brought his eyes to Negan’s, this time with a little more curiosity as to why he was earning such attention from the big boss man.

Negan’s smile widened when Travis finally locked eyes with his. Negan chuckled a little to himself, licking his lips back and forth with playful eyes before he finally spoke to the young man.

“How long have you been with us, my man?” Negan asked, putting on an easy smile for him.

Travis looked around at the people staring at him and then looked back at Negan, shuffling his feet nervously.

“I’ve uh… I’ve been here, working for you for about two or three years now, sir,” he answered, clearing his throat and forcing his nervous eyes to stay glued to Negan’s.

“Three loyal years,” Negan said, placing his hand on the man’s neck and holding it there, looking over at the crowd again.

“Many of you could benefit from being a loyal Savior like Travis here,” Negan said with a disciplinary glare at his congregation before turning back toward Travis with that easy smile of his again.

“Since you have become such a loyal follower of mine… And Y/N seems to have taken a *shine* to you…” Negan paused and looked over at you with a knowing twinkle in his eye before turning his eyes back to Travis.

“So, I was thinking that *you* could help Y/N watch over our little pet here,” Negan said, turning his attention to Daryl with an advisory glare in his direction.

Daryl blinked rapidly and coward back against the back wall again, looking over at you with nervous eyes for a second before forcing his eyes back to Negan’s.

“Si-Sir?” Travis asked with wide eyes, looking over at Daryl and then back at Negan with shocked confusion.

Negan laughed, shaking his head a little in amusement as he watched Travis stumble in his presence.

“Relax, Trav! All ya gotta do is make sure this dipshit over here doesn’t run off. My sister here will make sure he knows what chores he is responsible for. Isn’t that right, sis?” Negan asked, turning his eyes and attention over to you.

You stepped forward toward him and nodded.

“Yes. I’ll make sure he knows his place,” you said, looking softly over at Daryl as you said these words.

Negan clicked his tongue against his teeth with a smile as he turned his attention back to Travis.

“Alright then, it’s settled!” Negan said with an exclamation in his voice as he patted Travis on the shoulder approvingly again.

He turned and walked over to the door of the cage where the imprisoned man was being held captive. Negan reached his hand out, staring Daryl down.

Dwight quickly dug in his pocket, pulled out the key to the cage and placed it in Negan’s open hand.

Negan took the key, walked forward, and pushed the key into the lock. The jangling of the keys clashing against the bars of the cage made everyone cringe a little. Negan clicked the lock open and slowly opened the cage door.

Negan stepped back and gestured to Daryl.

“Well, what are you waitin’ for? Your timeout is over, doggie Daryl,” Negan said with a chuckle.

Daryl looked around, wincing at the people who were watching the scene from the corner of their eyes as they stood at attention for their master.

Daryl locked eyes with yours and held your gaze as he slowly emerged from the cell. He gripped the side of the door as he stepped his first steps outside since he had been pushed into it.

His bare feet hit the cold concrete floor as he stepped out. The minute he was outside of the cell Negan was in his face, causing Daryl to stop in his tracks.

He stared into Negan’s eyes, not budging an inch with a look of sheer will on his face.

Negan smiled after a minute, patting him on the shoulder and leaving his hand there with a tight grip on him for a second before dropping his hand and turning to you.

“They’re all yours,” he said gesturing at Daryl with his hand as he walked over to you.

“He gives you any trouble let me know,” Negan said, looking over at you seriously.

You nodded and smiled a little at the protective look in his eyes.

“I’ll be fine. I promise,” you said smiling over at him reassuringly, tapping the gun that was holstered at your side.

Negan stared at you for another minute until he was sure you were truly ready to handle this. Then he nodded and walked off.

“Come on, Dwighty boy! Let’s go see about those supplies!” Negan said as he sauntered towards the exit.

Dwight nodded and quickly followed behind Negan as ordered.

You looked over at the man named Daryl and slowly walked over to him, trying to ignore all of the other eyes on you.

Daryl stared back over at you with a slight look of confused panic in his eyes, but only for a second before he turned his eyes toward the wall behind you and turning off his emotions. He put his hands behind his back and puffed his chest out, acting like the soldier he was.

“Come with me,” you said, looking over at Travis and nodding your head to the side.

Travis nodded back and walked up to Daryl.

“Come on,” Travis said and gestured to Daryl by outstretching his hand.

Daryl looked over at you and nodded.

You turned and walked out the doors of the Sanctuary and into the sunshine. Daryl winced at the sight, putting up his hand to shade his eyes as they adjusted.

Daryl looked around the place for the first time since he was drug into that damned cage.

There was a big chain-linked fence enclosing the building. Walkers were impaled with sticks and rods outside of the fence to keep other walkers distracted from the building. He followed you and Travis down the cement path until you reached the side of the building. There was a huge garden there. From the looks of it, your community was growing tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and other vegetables and spices.

“It looks big. But it goes fast,” you said.

You sat down on a nearby tree stump and unlaced your boots. You took them off, along with your socks, and stepped into the garden, smiling to yourself as you felt the dirt underneath your feet. You spent most of your time here. It was quiet and you were rarely bothered by anyone. In this world, safe silence is a damned hard thing to find.

You looked over at Daryl who was watching you curiously, but he remained silent.

You turned and walked back toward him.

“Not talkative today?” you asked with a smile and a playful tilt of your head as you reminded him of last night’s interaction between you two.

Daryl looked warily over at Travis who was way too close for Daryl’s comfort.

You noticed this and nodded to Travis.

“Travis?” you asked.

“Yes, Ma’am?” Travis asked, militantly stepping forward toward you.

“Can you please go get me some water? I’m parched in this heat,” you said with a smile up at him.

Travis nodded.

“Of course,… Are you sure you want me to leave you alone with *him*,” he asked looking warily over at Daryl.

“I’m sure,” you said looking over into Daryl’s eyes as you continued to speak.

“I think we all know that stupidest thing to do here is try and run…Besides, I can take care of myself,” you tapped the gun holstered to your hip.

Travis stared over at Daryl another minute before looking over at you and nodding.

“Alright, Ma’am. I’ll be right back,” Travis said as he nodded and turned to walk back towards the Sanctuary.

You both watched Travis disappear out of your eye line as he turned the corner, leaving you two alone in the freedom of your garden.

You looked over at Daryl, suddenly very aware of his close proximity and the ping of electricity it made you feel as you looked slowly up into his eyes.

He noticed this and fought the urge to smile at the reaction he got from you. Instead, he asked what had been racing through his mind since you had arrived this morning.

“What is this, Y/N?” he asked, his eyes boring into yours.

His stare was so intense it caused your knees to buckle a little. You quickly took a step back and regained your composure.

“What does it look like? This, Daryl, is a garden,” you said with a laugh as you tried to lighten the mood.

He wasn’t that easily swayed though. He remained stiff and rigid as he looked over at you with slight anger that you were joking with him.

You noticed and nodded, your brow furrowing as you revealed your deeper self again to him, this time in the open sunshine.

“I just thought that you don’t deserve to be trapped in that damned cage all day and this morning…The idea just came to me,” you said with an honest shrug, looking away with slight sadness as if you had done something wrong to him because of his glare.

He noticed your recoil and took a deep breath, trying to convince himself your intentions were as good as you said they were.

He put his hands on his hips, clearing his throat as he surveyed the massive garden before him.

“This is great,” he said, looking over at you sideways.

“You do all this?” he asked curiously.

You looked around and nodded with a smile.

“Yeah. When Negan started raiding other groups after our supplies ran out, I decided to try my hand at a garden…” you said.

You looked sadly far off into the distance as you recalled those times.

“I tried. But the first crop didn’t take very well…So many people…” you said, remembering the famine and the groups you had had to turn away, or worse.

“After that, I spent every waking minute in this dirt tending to these plants,” you said, walking down the rows of tomatoes and softly tracing their leaves.

“It sounds kind of stupid, but now this place feels more like home than anywhere else,” you said with another soft smile to yourself as you leaned down and picked a ripe cherry tomato from the vine.

You turned and slowly walked back over to him and put your hand out, the cherry tomato in your palm.

“Try one,” you said with an innocent, sweet smile.

Daryl took it and popped it into his mouth, chomping on it with vibrant hungry. He growled deep in his throat after he swallowed it and looked over at you with harder eyes.

“It’s good,” he said with that same stoic look in his eyes.

“Well, please, feel free to take some. I know what they have been feeding you,” you said as you walked over to grab a basket from the side of the building.

Daryl watched you. The way the sun rays beamed through the trees above you and hit you just right made Daryl smile to himself. You were pure heart on fire beautiful. Strong, yet kind. Funny, but caring. Gorgeous, but you didn’t know it. He knew it was dangerous to be thinking these things. But he couldn’t help it. You made his mind wander.

“Anything else? You put in these baskets. We try and fill as many as we can every day. But don’t pick anything that’s underripe,” you instructed, walking over and handing him the basket.

Daryl took it and huffed a little, puffing out his chest.

“So, I’m just a glorified farmhand?” he asked with a smirk.

You smiled back at him and shrugged.

“Hey, it’s better than being stuck in that cage or being one of those murdering assholes,” you said, glancing over at him with curiosity, wondering how many people this man had killed and why.

Daryl noticed and walked into you a little closer, glaring you down again.

“And ya ain’t scared I won’t just kill ya and take off?” he asked, his intense eyes boring into you again as he confronted you.

You looked up at him, trying not to show how frightened you were at that possibility. You shook your head.

“N-No,” you nearly whispered, your heart pounding with adrenaline as you thought about what you would do if this man really did try to kill you.

“Yeah. Now you’re lookin’ around. You’re wonderin’ what you could use to fight me off if you had to,” Daryl said in a low, almost angry, growl.

“N-No. I’m not,” you replied, trying to sound more convincing this time.

He looked you over and nudged his nose up in the air, his intense eyes never leaving yours as he replied.

“Don’t worry. That’s good. That’s how you survive,” Daryl said, walking around you and over to a tomato plant.

You turned and watch him silently start to go about picking the food and stacking it up in the basket you had given him.

What the hell just happened? You asked yourself, silently going over the strange interactions you had had with this man again.

Travis interrupted your thoughts when he came over and gave you the water you had requested.

“Thanks,” you said to Travis, taking it and absentmindedly taking a sip as you watched the man go to work.

Daryl looked over at you chuckling a little to himself. He then shook his head and went back to work.

“What?” you asked, self-consciously.

“Nothin’,” Daryl said with another chuckle.

“It isn’t nothin’. Come on’, tell me,” you said looking over at him with stubborn curiosity.

Daryl took a breath and then turned back towards you and looked straight into your eyes.

“Nothin’, it’s just…Ya seem pretty happy with the way ya get treated around here. That’s all,” he said.

You pushed the water bottle back into Travis’ chest and walked over to Daryl with slight anger in your eyes.

“I’ll have you know, the only reason you are here right now is because I stuck my neck out for you,” you said, raising your voice a little as you towered over him.

Daryl stood up and towered over you in response, glaring you down a moment before smiling to himself.

“Yeah, well, that’s just it isn’t it? If it wasn’t you, would I really be here, Princess?” he asked, emphasizing that last word.

“You know I really can’t stand when you call me that,” you said, seething a little at his accusations.

Daryl chuckled again and shrugged, looking away in amusement for a moment before turning his amused gaze back toward you.

“Maybe I’ll do it more than,” he said with a small smile at you before glancing at Travis behind you and then turning back to continue his work.

You smiled to yourself, unable to stop the big smile that spread on your lips. Was he flirting with you? You couldn’t tell. But the way he talked to you really got under your skin. You looked at him curiously for another moment before turning and getting work yourself.

You grabbed a basket and crouched down beside Daryl, picking more tomatoes beside him.

He looked over at you as he winced away the sun in his eyes with an easy smile.

“What?” you asked laughing over at him.

“You didn’t think the ‘Princess’ really was the one to maintain all of this?” you asked with a smirk of your own as you continued to pick the ripe fruit off the vine.

Daryl chuckled, looking over at you with amusement for a moment.

“Maybe a good one,” he said with a sweet smile before turning his attention back to the plants and silently going back to work.

You smiled sweetly back at his words before clearing your throat as you looked back at Travis standing guard and continued to work.

You didn’t know what it was about this man and this connection. But you couldn’t help but feel drawn to him. You couldn’t help but feel alive in a way you hadn’t been in a very long time.

You looked back over at him and laughed softly again to yourself, shaking your head with amusement. You were happy that he was here beside you. Happy for the first time since the world here in the Sanctuary had turned. For the first time in a long time, you were happy to be here. And it was all thanks to the man in the cage that everyone else called a monster. To you? He was now Daryl. And you couldn’t wait to get to know him better…


	2. The Caged Animal - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Daryl and the Reader get to know each other as they work together at the Sanctuary. The Reader spends her days in the garden with Daryl. Daryl is offered a surprise offering from the ever surly Negan and the Reader takes a chance on what she has been feeling for Daryl.

You awoke the next morning with a smile on your face, which was the first one of its kind in a long time. You stretched and yawned as you blinked your eyes and your mind awake. You looked over at the window, hearing the birds chirping and the cawing of the dead outside together in this world’s new reality.

Your brow furrowed for a few seconds as you heard the cawing and clanking against their metal chains.

Then you thought about the man in the cage. Daryl.

You smiled to yourself as you recapped the last few days with the man. You two had settled into a comfortable routine since the day you had convinced your brother Negan to let him out of his cage and work with you in the garden.

Every morning since then you woke up with unnerved excitement as you dressed and went to meet the man in the cage. The man named Daryl. You walked out and down to the cage, nodding and smiling politely at Travis.

Travis nodded and smiled back, turning militantly, pushing the key into the lock of the cage, and clicking it open which echoed throughout the hollow walls around it.

You smiled wider as you stepped forward and your eyes locked with Daryl’s. He stood up from his crouching position in the back of the cage and walked toward you, each day with a little more trust and happiness to see you in his eyes.

You felt the same way. Every day you two spent together left you wanting more. There was something so fierce yet kind about him. He was unlike anyone you had ever known. Not in the world before this one. And certainly not now.

You stepped up toward the cage as Travis opened it, smiling at Daryl as he locked eyes with yours and walked out of the cage.

Travis locked the door behind you two as Daryl walked over to you, barefoot in that god-awful sweat suit of his. Still, you couldn’t help but see the gorgeous man in hiding behind it.

He looked up at you with guarded, yet curious, eyes, looking around to make sure no one was watching before looking back into your eyes with a smirk.

“Ya just can’t seem ta stay away huh, Princess?” he said, smirking a little to himself as he walked into you.

He noticed you tense up as he walked just a little too close into you. He was inches from your face. He looked you over and then closed his eyes, deeply inhaling your scent just for a second. Then he opened his eyes and quickly drew yours to his.

You fought the urge to give away your attraction to him and nodded with a forced stern look.

“Good Morning, Daryl,” you said, straightening out your posture as you said it and looked around.

As you did you noticed people in every nook and cranny looking you two over with curiosity but trying not to be obvious about it. You were learning that they were all talking about this arrangement with the man in the cage. So, you were trying your best to act as “professional” as possible while getting to know him.

“You know the drill. Follow me,” you said with a slight smile at him before returning to your serious face as you nudged your head toward the exit of the Sanctuary.

Daryl allowed a hint of amusement to dance on his lips and in his eyes as you played with him. His expression turned stoic too, following your lead and he nodded back to you.

“Yes ma’am,” he said with a small, quick smile back at you.

He shook his dirty bangs back and forth a few times so that he could see you better as he watched you proceed ahead of him toward the exit.

Travis stood alongside him, looking over at him nervously now and then as you three walked through and out of the building.

Daryl looked around, noticing the many curious eyes as you two escorted him outside. He also noticed that on days when Negan was watching you were extra tense toward him until you all escaped out of the building and to the garden.

Daryl’s favorite part of every day with you so far was every time you turned the corner into your garden, that sweet and so innocent happy smile of yours lit up uncontrollably on your lips. He loved watching your take off your boots and socks as quickly as you could before digging your feet into the earth below you.

You smiled to yourself as you pushed your feet around in the dirt, closing your eyes to enjoy it for a few moments. You felt his eyes on you. You opened your eyes to see him standing there, leaning against his shovel with a smile on his face as he watched you.

“What?” you asked, tucking your hair behind your ears and looking away self-consciously at his stare.

Daryl smiled, huffing a little as he smiled to himself.

“Nothin’,” he said, looking over at you with silent curiosity for another moment before shaking the hair out of his eyes and coming back out of his thoughts. He cleared his throat, coming back to reality.

“So, what’s on the agenda today?” he asked, looking around the big garden and back at you.

You followed his gaze and put your hands on your hips, looking seriously over at the soil around you.

“I thought today we could plant another few rows of potatoes along the sides over here to the north,” you said, walking over to the spot to show him with a gesture from your arms.

Daryl followed you over to the edge of the garden, walking up and standing by your side as he looked out at the spot.

You noticed his close proximity, your stomach fluttering a little as you felt the electricity you felt. You forced your eyes and your mind forward to the task at hand. You leaned over and grabbed a shovel that was lying on the grass just outside of the garden. You picked it up and pushed it into the dirt, chopping the soil up a few times before pushing it into the soil and digging a hole.

Daryl planted himself a few feet apart from you and did the same.

You two worked silently alongside one another, digging hole after hole. About halfway through Daryl threw his shovel to the ground and ripped off his sweatshirt. He threw it to the ground angrily and wiped the sweat off his brow.

You watched him rip his shirt off and reveal his gorgeous chest and stomach, glistening with sweat.

You fixated on the sight for a few seconds, allowing yourself to admit to yourself how attractive his body was. You started to think about walking over and caressing his glistening chest and pushing your lips to his for an amazing kiss.

Daryl cleared his throat, bringing your startled and embarrassed eyes quickly back to his as he caught you staring at him.

He looked over at you with curiosity and a small smile for a second, wondering what you were thinking, before reaching down and picking his shovel back up.

You quickly turned your mind and attention back to your work, trying to move past the awkward moment.

Daryl started digging by your side again, glancing over at you with a curious glance every so often as you two worked together.

When the holes were all dug you walked over and grabbed a bag of potatoes that were ready for planting. You set the bag down in between the two rows of holes and knelt down on your knees. Daryl did the same, kneeling down beside you. You reached into the bag and pulled out a potato, handing it to him.

“The spuds go up,” you said as you handed it to him.

He nodded, placing the potato, spuds up into the hole.

You grabbed your own potato and did the same, mounding the loose dirt over the potato as you buried it, mounding the dirt up around it.

You looked over at him curiously as you both crawled to the next set of holes, dragging the bag of potatoes with you.

“So, how are you liking the job so far?” you asked, as you put another potato in the ground and buried it.

He looked over at you as he mounded dirt over another hole and huffed.

“Well, it beats being stuck in that damn cage all day long,” he said, looking you over before continuing.

“Plus, the view ain’t half bad,” he said, closing one eye from the sun as he looked over at you with a nearly carefree smile.

This first you had seen from him yet. It was beautiful. Your stomach flipped at his words and the way he was looking at you.

He had to admit to himself that you had been the best part of being stuck here. Every day since you had walked curiously into his life, he grew to like you more and more. He knew he shouldn’t. But he couldn’t help it. You made this hellhole somehow bearable.

You looked over at him with a soft smile at his words, looking him over for a second, your mind going back to that fantasy about his lips on yours. You nodded back to him in agreement as you both crawled to the next set of holes.

“Speaking of…I talked to Negan last night…” you said, placing another potato in the ground as you tried to avoid feeling the buzz his compliment toward you had created inside you and move on.

“Yeah?” Daryl asked, trying to avoid the anger that surged through him at the mere mention of that asshole’s name.

“Yeah… Well… I convinced him to let you sleep somewhere else from now on,” you said, looking over at Daryl with a smile.

Daryl huffed, taken aback at this, looking over at you with slight shock for a moment before going back to work.

He said nothing just went about his work, his demeanor changing into an angry one.

You looked over at him with slight shock yourself at his reaction.

“I thought you’d be a little happier to hear that,” you said, crawling forward to the last set of holes.

Daryl grimaced, still saying nothing as you two planted the last of the potatoes.

You both stood up, together, facing each other in a silent stalemate for a second. 

You could tell he was angry. You could feel it emanating off of him in waves. You went to reach over and touch his arm. But before you could make contact with him, he clenched his whole body and took a few defensive steps back and away from you.

“Wha-What’s the matter?” you asked, somehow feeling guilty all of a sudden for what you had done for him.

He looked over at Travis who was standing there pointing a gun at him with a nervous look in his eye, pivoting back and forth on his heels as he stared tensely at the scene between you and Daryl.

Then Daryl looked back at you, walking towards you again and putting his face back into yours, this time with pure defiance in his eyes.

He heard the click of the gun as Travis cocked it and aimed it at him.

He looked at Travis with angry eyes, walking over to him. He walked into the gun until it was just inches away from his forehead.

“Ya just gonna shoot me, right here? Like an animal?” Daryl growled, glaring angrily over at Travis.

Travis’ hand shook a little as Daryl walked into the gun, looking over at Daryl nervously as he replanted his feet.

Daryl smirked at the man’s hesitation, nudging his nose up at him as he spoke again with danger in his eyes.

“This is who they got guardin’ me? Can’t even steady his hand to shoot me if he had to,” Daryl said with an amused huff to himself as he thought about how easily he could overpower the other man.

“Enough,” you said, walking over to the two men with command.

Daryl looked over at you and huffed again in irritation, turning away from the gun and toward you at his side.

“You don’t own me, sweetheart. And if this man’s gonna stand here and point that gun to my head he best be ready to use it,” Daryl said in a low and serious growl, glaring back at Travis with a clenched jaw.

You grimaced.

You looked over at Travis and lightly put your hand on his shoulder.

This caused Travis to look over at you with scared and confused eyes.

“Please put that away, Travis. I’m fine,” you said with a reassuring smile.

Travis looked back at Daryl who was glaring him down again, silently begging him to make a move. And then he looked back at you and nodded, sighing a little in relief as he let his arm fall back to the ground.

You sighed in relief as you watched Travis put the gun back in his holster, looking at you for further instructions as he took a few steps back and away from Daryl.

You looked over at Daryl and back at Travis with worried eyes.

“Travis, can you give me and Daryl a minute?” you asked, looking over at Travis with a small hopeful smile.

Travis looked over at you with wide eyes as if you were asking the impossible of him.

You understood.

“I can take care of myself, Travis. Just a few minutes please?” you asked, tapping the gun at your hip as you smiled over at him with ease, trying to get him to relax.

Travis finally nodded in agreement.

“I’ll be just over there if ya need me, Y/N,” he said. And then with the tip of his hat to you, he turned and walked over to the side of the building.

You turned your attention back to Daryl who glared Travis down until he left his sights.

“Your boyfriend sure is a piece of work,” Daryl said, his eyes still fixated on where Travis had disappeared to.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you said with slight irritation.

Daryl looked over at you, noticing the anger in your eyes as you crossed your arms and looked away, defensively.

Daryl smirked a little to himself leaning into your face with his own, getting slowly closer and closer to you until you looked back into his eyes.

He looked into your eyes. He saw so much defiance and fire in them. This intrigued him about you. Even now, you should be scared of him. But you stood your ground like the Queen you seemed to be. So, he backed off a little. He stepped back a few steps away from you, looking you over with silent curiosity as he took in the strength that you emanated.

After a few more moments, you looked over at him with a stubborn grimace on your face. You noticed he had backed away and his glare had softened toward you. He was looking at you with that same look he had had earlier today in his eyes.

You both looked curiously over at each other, neither of you quite sure of what to say or do next.

Finally, you stepped toward him.

You walked a few feet towards him and then stopped.

You shook the hair out of your eyes, looking up at the sky as you thought about how to explain your thoughts to him in this moment. You looked up and noticed the white puffy clouds, smiling to yourself at a long-lost memory.

“I remember when I was a little kid, 5 or 6 maybe. There was this one time where my parents were fighting…worse than usual,” you said with a grimace as you thought back to all of the knockdown drag-out fights your parents had had.

You tightened your arms around your body, hugging yourself as you looked bittersweetly up at the clouds above you and continued.

“My brother pulled me outside and into a nearby field filled with grass and flowers. Yellow, I think. I was crying so hard…and he told me to lay down and look up at the clouds with him. We sat there for hours that day pointing out what each one looked like to us,” you said, feeling the sting of tears starting as you brought your apologetic eyes back to his.

“I know this isn’t where you want to be. I know you would rather be with your friends…I was just trying to…just trying…” you said with an exhausted sigh, looking sincerely over at him with your dirt-stained face.

“You just don’t know what it’s like…” you said, fighting back tears as you looked away.

“What, what’s like?” Daryl asked, looking over at you with concerned curiosity now.

You looked back up at the clouds in the sky with a sadness in your eyes.

“To have someone you’ve looked up to your whole life turn into something so…” you closed your eyes, a single tear escaping as you dropped your head, unable to finish your sentence.

Daryl cleared his throat, looking over at you with slight sadness as he watched you shove your feelings back down.

You gulped, taking a deep breath before returning those fiery eyes back to his.

You smiled apologetically, putting your hands on your hips and returned to your confident stance.

“Anyway…If you don’t want the room, don’t take it. I just thought it would be better than that cage. As for Travis, I’ll talk to him,” you said, nodded over at him with a sincere look in your eyes.

“You don’t have to worry about me, Daryl. I can look after myself…” you said, with your hands on your hips as you faced him, your gun hanging in its holster at the side of your hip.

“Yeah. I can see that,” Daryl said, allowing his mind to wander to you again as he watched you take swift control over your emotions.

You had such a strong grace. He could tell the world had knocked you about a lot in your life. But somehow you had hung on to that hope inside of you while still being able to protect yourself.

“Look, I didn’t mean to start nothin’…” Daryl said, feeling suddenly apologetic for making you feel like shit.

You put your hand up and shook your head at him.

“Don’t apologize. I get it…I mean hell, if I were you…” you sighed with exhaustion again as you thought about how you would feel to be him in this place after all he had been through.

You tried to put your nightmares of this place and this time back in the box you buried it in and forced your eyes back to his.

“…Anyway…I’m sorry if what I did upset you. I was just trying to help…” you said with a shrug.

“Not that you can do that much for people these days, even if you try,” you said with a dismal sigh, looking away and hearing the cawing of the dead just a few yards away trying to rip everyone here apart in their chains.

Daryl looked away for a few moments, the light breeze running through his hair as he silently talked to himself, figuring out how to respond next. He finally brought his thoughtful and piercing dark blue eyes back to yours and responded.

“Why do you care so much?” he asked, looking curiously over at you.

You looked over at him with surprise at his question, furrowing your brow as you thought about your answer. Finally, you looked back over at him and responded.

“I just don’t think that everyone in this world is lost to it…That’s all…,” you said with a shrug.

You turned around and walked towards one of the rainwater buckets, sticking your arms inside and washing them clean.

Daryl huffed with surprise at your hopeful answer and walked over to you, sticking his arms into the same water bucket as you.

You two washed your arms and hands clean in comfortable silence.

Every so often, Daryl looked over at you with a curious small smile.

You didn’t notice this as you continued to wash your hands. You were just happy he wasn’t angry anymore.

Daryl was scrubbing his fingers clean when he looked over at you, shook the hair out of his eyes, and spoke again.

“From what I’ve seen, you’re nothin’ like any of them,” Daryl said, taking in your tough heart with a soft smile as he looked you over.

You were so capable and determined, like many who had learned to live in this new world. But you had somehow managed to keep that big heart, even in a place like this.

You looked over at him curiously for a moment.

“You barely know me. How can you tell that?” you asked, peering over at him as the wind whipped through your hair.

Daryl smiled a little standing up as he shook off the water on his hands.

“No Savior I know would have done what ya did for me,” he said, intentionally locking his intense eyes with yours.

You smiled sweetly back at him, getting lost in his eyes as he looked at you with something new in his eyes, appreciation.

You were about to respond when you heard Travis’ voice as he walked back over to you two.

“Ma’am...” Travis stuttered as he walked over to you.

“What??” you asked, turning around to face Travis with annoyance at the interruption.

Travis nodded his head at you and respectfully bowed it as he spoke again.

“Pardon the intrusion but I thought you’d like to know that-“

Before Travis could finish, Negan’s voice came booming in as he walked around the corner of the building and into your garden.

“Damn it, little sis, this is looking great!” Negan said with an impressed smile.

He smiled happily to himself as he looked at the great big garden, thriving and growing so much food for him and his people.

You looked over at your brother and smiled graciously back, turning your back to Daryl and walking over to your brother.

“Thanks. It’s coming along nicely I think…” you said, looking over your growing crops with an accomplished smile.

Negan scanned the area and his eyes came to Daryl who stood there looking over at him stoically, as he turned his emotions off.

Negan clicked his teeth with his tongue a few times, smiling wider at Daryl as he noticed Daryl’s whole body tense up at his arrival. Negan patted your shoulder absentmindedly a few times, never taking his eyes off of Daryl. He then slowly walked over to Daryl, planting his feet side by side in the dirt just inches from Daryl. Negan smiled that cocky smile at Daryl as he planted his feet and then spoke.

“So, Y/N, how’s our good doggie doing so far?” Negan asked you, smiling cockily back at Daryl, who glared him down with pure anger at Negan’s insulting words.

You rolled your eyes, stuffing down your own anger as you slapped on a fake smile for your brother and walked over to them.

You looked over at Daryl with silent apologetic eyes before quickly turning your attention back to your brother.

“Daryl is doing good. He listens to orders well and has been very helpful,” you said in a short monotoned voice as you reported to your brother like every other soldier in this place.

Daryl fought the urge to look over at you, hearing the militant tone of your voice at your brother’s presence. Instead, he kept his eyes straight forward looking off at a fixed spot just beyond Negan’s shoulder. He stood there just as tensely as you did, not sure what was in store next for him with this asshole.

“Glad to hear it,” Negan said, smiling with satisfaction and patting Daryl’s shoulder a few times before turning his eyes back to you with another easy smile.

“I don’t know if Y/N told you already, but I like to reward this kind of behavior. I mean, after all, it isn’t every day a man whose friends you’ve murdered right in front of him would turn on his people for him!” Negan said with gusto and excited amusement.

He turned his giddy eyes and smile back to Daryl, waiting for Daryl to show any sort of emotion at the mention of his dead friends.

Daryl fought everything he had and kept all the rage running through him deep inside, staying as stoic as possible. He couldn’t help but harden his eyes and clench his jaw in defiance. But he didn’t speak or move, standing at attention as best that he could.

After a few moments, Negan chuckled to himself, backing up a few feet from Daryl and looking over at you with a sadistically satisfied smile.

“Well done, Y/N,” he said, nodding in approval to you.

You hardened your face and you nodded back.

“Of course, Negan,” you said, looking away in shame as you fell back into the role you hated the most here, especially in front of Daryl.

“So! Since Y/N’s report is tip-top for you, doggie, I’ve got a surprise for you!” Negan said with excitement again, patting Daryl’s tense shoulders a few more times before turning and walking back out of the garden, expecting you both to follow him.

“Lead the way, Travis!” Negan said with zest, pointing his finger over at Travis.

Travis clumsily stood to attention and nodded, saluting Negan and turning to walk you all back into the building.

You glanced over at Daryl, secretly ashamed of what he had just witnessed. But you knew your brother. And you knew how it was for you here. If you didn’t obey those rules, who knows where you would be put.

Daryl looked over at you with curiosity again, noticing the shame and sadness in your eyes.

He threw you a bone and nodded his head over towards Negan as he spoke.

“Come on,” he said, before voluntarily walking ahead of you and following Negan.

You took a deep breath, composed your feelings the best you could, following behind Daryl and the other two men. You walked shamefully behind Daryl, walking into the Sanctuary and up the same cold, metal stairs you walked up and down every day.

You followed them all up two flights of stairs, turned the corner, and then walked down the long corridor. You passed door after door, which all belonged to Negan’s soldiers until you reached the last door on the right which was open. You could see the sun shining through into the hallway, with beige inviting walls.

Travis stopped at the entrance of the doorway, standing guard beside the door.

Negan nodded in approval and patted Travis on the shoulders a few times before walking inside the room.

Daryl soon followed, with you just a few feet behind him.

You walked in, walking up until you were by Daryl’s side. You looked around the room that Negan had set up for Daryl.

There was a double-sized fully made bed in the corner by the window to your left, which left the room completely illuminated with the sun’s honey-like light. Next to the bed was a nightstand, which had a vase full of fresh flowers and a plate with a tomato sandwich on it, with a glass of purified water next to it. On the other side of the room, there was a bookshelf, filled with dozens of books to choose from.

Negan walking into the room, outstretching his arms with a big smile as he turned around and faced you two.

“And, the piece de resistance,” Negan said, walking over to the door on the right side of the room. He opened it and revealed a bathroom.

“It’s only got a shower, but I mean…Man! No one else as a working bathroom in their room. I mean besides me and Y/N,” Negan said with a cocky smile and a shrug.

Daryl looked over at him quizzically after scanning the well-kept and well-stocked room.

“Why?” Daryl asked, completely confused by this action from this man.

Negan chuckled a little, looking over at you as if you two shared whatever inside joke was in his head before looking pointedly over at Daryl.

Negan placed his hands on his hips as he walked back over and into Daryl’s space, leaning into his face with a dangerously serious look in his eyes as he did so.

“Excuse the shit out of me?” Negan asked, his whole demeanor turning angry in the blink of an eye.

“Do you mean to tell me that you don’t appreciate my hospitality after sitting and shittin’ in that cage for the last month?” Negan asked, with seething, angry eyes. 

Daryl clenched his jaw, staring back at him. He wanted to hit him so badly. Hell, he wanted to kill him. But he knew with the number of people he had here that would never let him live if he even tried to do such a thing.

So, Daryl and Negan stood there glaring each other down, each second both of their anger levels increased.

“Jesus, Negan. Can you blame him for being suspicious?” you said, stepping in between them and separating them as you did so.

You stood facing your brother, with Daryl behind you now.

Negan looked over at you, once his eyes hit yours his body started to de-tense.

You faked an innocent, reassuring smile, reaching up to place your hand gently on your brother’s shoulder.

“Why don’t you leave it to me. I’ll make sure he is settled in,” you said, batting your eyes up at him with a reassuring smile.

Negan looked over at Daryl with anger again and then looked back at you.

“Okay. But Travis stays put outside,” Negan ordered.

Negan looked back over at Daryl one more time.

“Welcome to your new home, doggie. Ya try anythin’ and every soldier here will know about it,” Negan said with dead serious eyes as he taunted Daryl one more time and then turned and walked out of the room.

You quickly followed your brother, nodding to Travis with command before shutting and locking the door from the inside.

You could feel Daryl’s anger in the energy in the air, radiating like a light beam throughout the room.

You took a deep breath before turning to face Daryl.

Your eyes looked up and over at him with guilty innocence, darting around and few times as you decided what to say.

Before you could think of the right words, Daryl spoke.

“Your brother’s a fuckin’ dick,” he said, looking over at you with angry eyes.

You nodded in sad agreement. For once, not sure what to say.

Daryl looked around the fully stocked room again in pure angry confusion.

“Seriously, why would he give all of this to me?” Daryl asked you.

You looked around the room and shrugged.

“I guess he wants to make you one of them,” you said nudging your head toward the hallway and the other soldiers’ rooms.

The very thought of Daryl becoming one of them made you grimace in disgust.

It did the same thing to Daryl. He huffed and silently berated Negan. As if he would ever join these assholes.

You wrapped your arms around your own body and walked over to the big window. You looked outside, smiling at the view of an open pasture free from walkers beyond the fence as the sun began to set.

“You have a better view than I do,” you said with a look of happy awe at the sight of no dead things trying to claw at you.

Daryl walked over to the window standing beside you. He took in the sight, staring over at you curiously again. You were lost in that inner world of yours again, looking beyond those walls with longing.

In that moment, his heart connected with yours at that same longing to escape this place.

You looked over at Daryl and noticed his body tension had lessened as he stood by your side, looking out the window with you.

You turned and looked back at the scene as the sun began to set, putting your hand on the glass window as you did so.

“I miss the world,” you said sadly, in a near whisper as you thought back to your life before all of this.

Daryl turned and looked at you with guarded yet sympathetic eyes. He nodded slowly in understanding and then shook his bangs, looking back out the window as he replied to you.

“The world’s not over,” he said looking over at you a little more softly as he took in the sadness and pain in your eyes.

You looked over at him with a sad smile. Your eyes caught

his and again you saw something different in them. Sympathy?

“And what ‘world’ is this one that I’m forced to live in now?” you asked with sad curiosity, dying to know this man’s outlook on what every soul left here was dealing with.

Daryl noticed and looked back out at the sunset, looking at the world outside with more conviction.

“I think this could be a better one…” Daryl said.

He turned and looked into your eyes as he continued, “…With the right people in charge.”

Your eyes went sad again and left his to the life beyond this prison you had found yourself in.

“So, tell me, are you one of these so-called, ‘right,’ people?” you asked curiously looking over at him again, with your hand still pressed against the window.

He huffed, smiling a little at you as he shrugged.

“I’d like to think so,” he said.

You smiled, turning all of your attention back to this mystery of a man. You were about to ask him another question when Travis interrupted you.

“Excuse me, Ma’am, dinner’s ready for you. Should I put it in your room?” he asked, holding your tray of food in his hands.

“Sure. Thanks, Travis. Why don’t you put it on my table, and I’ll watch Daryl until you return,” you said with a sweet smile.

Travis shifted a little and looked over at Daryl and back at you with nervous eyes.

You rolled your eyes and put your hands on your hips.

“Why does everyone around here think I can’t take care of myself?” you asked with irritation.

Travis nodded, noticing your anger and decided to silently agree with you. He turned, walked out of the door. He shut and locked the door from the outside.

You smiled to yourself at his obedience and turned to face Daryl again.

“Why’s that?” he asked you, nudging his nose toward the door.

You smiled and shrugged looking over at him playfully.

“Maybe it’s because you were let free…Or maybe it’s because they are jealous you get to spend all day with me,” you said laughing a little with a sparkle in your eye as you joked with him.

Daryl looked over at you curiously again, clearing his throat and shifting his legs nervously.

Were you flirting with him?

He couldn’t tell.

He huffed, choosing to focus on the situation at hand. He nudged his nose up at the now closed and locked door and the flit his dark eyes back to yours.

You turned and walked over to him and noticed his body tense up, but he stood perfectly still as you came toward him.

He watched you walk over to him with a playful look in your eye that he had not seen before. He stood as still as he could as his heart raced inside of his chest at the sight.

He looked back at the locked door and then back into your eyes with dark curiosity.

“Aren’t you afraid of being locked in here with me?” he growled, feeling more confused and aroused as he watched your playful smile widen at this.

“Maybe it’s you that should be afraid of being locked in here with me,” you said, raising your eyebrow as you stared back up into those beautiful dark blue eyes with strong defiance.

You softly pressed your hands on his bare chest and began to lean into him.

Daryl’s head jutted back.

“What are ya doin’?” he growled with angry, confused eyes as he tried to figure you out.

“Just trying something I’ve been thinking a lot about since I met you…” you said as you closed your eyes and slowly pushed your lips to his.

His lips were rough and dry from the heat of the day, but they tasted amazing. You pressed your lips to his once more before leaning back and opening your now very hazy eyes back to his.

“Was that okay?” you asked, smiling to yourself as you relived the electricity that ran through your body at the contact of your lips on his.

Daryl stared silently over at you with that same guarded, conflicted stare. He looked into your playful, yet innocent hazy eyes as you waited for his answer.

His eyes narrowed and seemed to get angrier. And then, suddenly he lunged at you, quickly wrapping his arm around your body, smashing your body into his.

You gasped in surprise as he pulled you quickly into him, looking up at him with a happy smile as he took you into his arms.

Daryl smirked a little to himself at your gasp and happy reaction to his actions.

He tilted his head and then spoke, ghosting his lips with yours.

“Ya sure ya ain’t scared of me, Y/N?” he asked with a dangerous look in his eye as he tested you.

You shivered. You had to admit you were scared of what this man could do to you. But you also felt more alive in his presence than you had in so very long. He set your heart and body on fire. He was worth the risk. So, you shook your head, putting on a brave smile and replied to him.

“No. I’m not scared of you, Daryl,” you said, feeling desire and nerves running through your being all at once as he held you into him so tightly.

Daryl’s other arm wrapped around you and firmly secured your body completely helplessly into his.

You gasped again, this time your eyes showing a little fear in them this time.

He smiled at this.

“Don’t worry darlin’, I’m the good guy, remember?” he said and then slammed his lips into yours.

You moaned in surprised delight as you felt him harshly push his rough lips back to yours.

You lunged into him further, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling his lips further into yours.

He groaned softly, wrapping you up and pulling you up into his arms as he kissed you back, kiss after kiss.

You looked down at him with a happy laugh as he lifted you up into the air and kissed your lips feverishly.

He kissed your lips swiftly back a few more times before he leaned his head back just enough to allow himself to speak.

“So, what now? Princess?” He asked with a small happy smile on his lips.

You looked him over, running your hands up into his hair, feeling every wonderful urge that you had forgotten in this life coming back to life because of him.

You kissed his lips and then replied, “Now? You could kiss me again...”

His smile widened and he laughed, hugging you tighter at your reply.

“You’re somethin’ else,” Daryl said with another smile.

He pushed his lips back to yours with raw intent this time, pushing his tongue inside your mouth.

You moaned loudly and happily at this as he grabbed your tongue and swirled it swiftly and hungrily around with his.

You quickly swirled your tongue around his with equal fervor.

Daryl growled into your mouth at your quick reaction. One of his hands ran up into your hair. He gripped it and pulled your hair back, forcing your lips off of his abruptly.

You whimpered in sad confusion shock as he ripped your lips from his.

You looked up into his eyes with pure need at the lack of contact.

He looked over your red lips and your needy eyes and his heart skipped a beat. What in the world did you see in a man like him? He couldn’t figure it out.

“What do you want from me?” Daryl asked with his husky deep voice.

You looked up at him and smiled sweetly at him before answering, trying to linger in the most perfect moment you had had since you could remember.

“I’m not sure. But it could be fun to figure it out. Don’t you think?” you asked with a happy laugh before pushing your lips back to his.

He groaned with happy confusion as you began to slowly swirl your tongue around his again. Your kiss began to heat up as Daryl held you as close as he could into his body.

You heard the door being unlocked from the outside and you quickly pulled your lips from his.

Daryl dropped your body back to the floor and took a step away from you, trying to ignore how hard you had just made him.

You turned around just in time to watch Travis open the door with a tray of food in his hand for Daryl.

You smiled innocently over at Travis as he walked inside the room.

“Well, I guess I should be going,” you said nodding to Travis politely and then you looked over at Daryl.

“I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight, Daryl,” you said with a sweet smile before turning to leave.

You could feel his eyes on you as you walk out of the room. You turned and looked back at him and gave him one more knowing smile before disappearing down the hallway.

You floated away down the hallway and up the stairs to your bedroom, in a daze as you replayed the feeling of Daryl’s lips on yours over and over in your head.

You ate your supper in silence alone in your room. When you were done you walked up to your window, putting your hand on it as you looked out at your view. You could see the fenced-in encampment that your brother had put up, filled with chained and spiked walkers cawing and clawing, trying their best to reach the human life they knew was inside the Sanctuary.

You thought back to Daryl and his animalistic kiss, pressing your fingers to your lips as you thought about the man who had appeared in the midst of what seemed like your own eternal hell here.

You went to bed that night thinking about him and all of the feelings that he had stirred inside of you. It had been so long since you had felt anything remotely like attraction to someone. This place wasn’t exactly crawling with gentlemen. Still, you wondered about this man who had come into your life and knocked you over with his tough yet somehow gentle manner. There was something sweet inside of him, something you saw just a hint of tonight when he kissed you back. Something you were dying to uncover in this man who made you feel so very alive. You fell into a deep sleep letting yourself wonder what a real life with this man outside of these walls could look like…

Daryl had musings of his own as he laid his head down that night. He could hear the rowdy soldiers laughing with one another through the thin walls through most of the night as he thought about this place and you. On one hand, he was grateful for getting out of that damned cage. On the other hand, he couldn’t stand still being trapped here. And then there was you. Daryl couldn’t believe that this Negan and this place hadn’t hardened you. You seemed so pure yet resilient. So, loving, yet protective. He fell asleep wondering why you had kissed him and what that meant for him. He knew he couldn’t stay here. But he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have you in his life…


	3. The Caged Animal - Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: The Reader and Daryl get closer as they work together at the Sanctuary after their first kiss. They spend the day together working and it ends in sweet, loving smut as they sleep together for the first time and Daryl claims her as his own.

You walked down the hallway toward Daryl’s new room at the end. You tried to ignore the butterflies in your stomach. You also tried to ignore the soldiers who had their doors open, who ran up to the door frame to holler obscenities at you. You pulled at your clothes, making sure they were as loose as possible around you as you sped up your pace. You brought your hand down to the gun in its holster at your hip, reminding yourself that if anyone tried that you could protect yourself.

You reached Daryl’s room and smiled a little to yourself at Travis sleeping on the ground, guarding the door with his gun in his hand. You reached down and grabbed the keys from his belt as he snored away in a deep slumber. You tested each one until you found the one that fit. You softly knocked on the door as you slowly turned the key, looking down at Travis with a nervous look on your face. You tip-toed into the room, quickly and quietly turned and shut it, locking it securely in place from the inside this time.

You slowly turned around, following the sunlight that was beaming in from the window. You followed the golden light over and to the bed and smiled to yourself at the sight of Daryl sound asleep. You could see his bare chest sticking out from the sheets, which covered just his lower half.

He looked so gorgeous and so peaceful. You looked around nervously, suddenly feeling like you shouldn’t be here since he was still sleeping. You walked to the window and watched the sun as it rose over the beautiful green land beyond this place.

Daryl awoke a few minutes later to see you looking out the window with that same hopeful longing in your eyes that he had seen last night. He cleared his throat, causing you to jump a little and look over at him, startled.

You smiled a small apologetic smile as he noticed you in his room so early in the morning.

“Sorry, I thought you’d be up…I didn’t mean to wake you…” you said, fidgeting with your fingers as you spoke to him, trying not to concentrate on his gorgeous bare chest.

Daryl smiled easily over at you, bringing his index finger to his lips, tracing them slowly as he looked you over.

You had your hair down for the first time that he had ever seen. He watched it freely flow down past your shoulders in the sunlight with that sweet, shy smile on your beautiful lips. You have a simple black tank top on with jean shorts and boots on, the early morning light illuminating you in a way he hadn’t seen yet.

You were so beautiful and strong, inside and out.

He sat up, getting off the bed and wrapping the sheet around his waist. Then he slowly walked forward toward you with mysterious and dark eyes.

When he was just inches from you, he finally spoke.

“It’s alright…” he said with an easy smile, loving the fact that you had needed to see him so early after kissing him last night.

“…I sure don’t mind waken up to you,” he said, nibbling on his lip and looking nervously over at you with a curious smile.

You smiled up at him, so happy he wasn’t angry that you were there.

You looked down and noticed him tightening his grip on the sheet wrapped around him.

“I couldn’t sleep in those damn sweatpants another night,” he said, looking over at them on the floor with disgust.

You nodded, looking away from his lower half, trying not to look at him as your lips turned into a shy smile.

Daryl noticed your discomfort at his sheeted naked body. He smiled to himself for just a second before his eyes turned dark. He stepped back into your eye line, just a little closer than before.

This caused you to bring your now timid eyes back to his. You looked back at him, your body buzzing with excitement with his close proximity.

He brought his index finger slowly to your chin, softly pushing it under your chin, and tilted it up.

You let him tilt your head up, forcing your nervous eyes back to his.

He had never seen you so vulnerable. You were looking up at him with shy longing. As nervous as you appeared to be, you stood your ground. He loved that. He looked you over, closing his eyes to enjoy breathing in your scent.

This made you shiver all over.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked back into yours, with nothing but pure dominant curiosity in his eyes.

You stood there frozen. You weren’t sure what to do or say. So, you just stood there under his thrall.

He fought a smile as he watched you submit so easily to him. He leaned over and whispered into your ear.

“Am I makin’ ya nervous, Y/N?” he asked, nuzzling your ear ever so slightly before leaning back to see your reaction.

You shuttered a little, smiling at his actions and forcing your eyes back to his, trying to find your resolve. You took a ragged breath before bringing your hands up to his chest and resting them there. You smiled to yourself at his surprised look at your touch before he tucked it back under that tough exterior.

“Only in the good ways,” you said with a quick raise of your eyebrow and a braver smile this time as you stubbornly held his gaze.

Daryl looked at you and huffed with an easy smile over at you as he wrapped his free arm around your waist and pulled you into him.

He nudged his nose up into yours, gauging your reaction as he spoke, his lips up against yours.

“Yeah?” he asked with another low-key curious stare.

You laughed a little and nodded. You looked down at his lips and smiled to yourself, remembering the feeling of them on yours last night.

“Yeah,” you said with another happy smile before you brought your eyes back to his.

He smiled a soft smile back at you, kissing your nose shortly and then leaning back to admire you again.

“So, how’d you sleep?” he asked with a soft smile.

“Good. Good…” you said trailing off, remembering your kiss again as your eyes locked with his lips again.

He noticed your fixation on his lips and the hazy look in your eyes. He knew what you were thinking about. It made his heart melt.

“Wh-What about you?” you asked, forcing your beautiful eyes back to his.

He smiled back at you, shaking the hair out of his eyes, and nudged his nose up at you before speaking.

“Well, to tell ya the truth I had some trouble…” he said, looking you over before continuing.

“…I couldn’t seem to get one thing out of my mind,” he said, looking you over with a hungry stare this time.

You shivered at the look in his eye, feeling your body buzzing all over at his words and that stare.

“Yeah? And what was that?” you asked, with a playful smile on your lips.

He leaned over and whispered into your ear.

“Oh, just thinkin’ about that kiss ya laid on me last night,” he whispered, kissing the side of your neck a few times and then leaning back again.

You shivered visibly this time at the feeling of his lips on your skin.

“Yeah? What about it?” you asked, forcing a brave smile on your lips as he leaned back and locked eyes with yours again.

You could feel your heart racing as you looked up into his gorgeous eyes, which weakened a little more for you each time you looked into them.

He smiled happily over at you, bringing his hand that was wrapped around you to the side of your face. He cupped it, stroking his thumb back and forth across your cheek a few times. He looked you over, so in awe that someone so beautifully defiant wanted someone like him.

He finally brought his eyes back to yours.

“I was just thinkin’ about an encore,” he said, bringing his hand to your chin and pulling your lips up toward his.

You tilted your head back, feeling the most amazing electricity pinging throughout your body as you let him bring your lips back to his.

He smiled happily down at your sweet submission and pushed his lips to yours. He kissed your lips a few times, before pushing his tongue inside your mouth. He grabbed hold of your tongue and swirled it around with urgent dominance.

You moaned in surprised happiness at the force of his kiss, swirling your tongue around his faster still. You ran your hands up to his neck and wrapped your arms around it, nearly lunging your body into his.

He groaned at your actions, swirling around your tongue as passionately as he could a few more times before forcing his lips off of yours.

You looked over at him with disappointment as you both panted away trying to catch your breath from such an intense kiss.

He smiled over at the disappointed look on your face, caressing the side of your face a few more times.

“What is it?” you asked licking your lips, ready to push your lips back onto his.

He smirked a little to himself at how ready you were for him.

“It’s nothin’… It’s just…” Daryl looked down at his hand clutching the sheet around his lower half and then looked back up at you with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s just…I’m suddenly very aware of how very naked I am right now,” he said, fighting back a smile when he watched your eyes drift downward with curiosity.

You subconsciously licked your lips as you looked down his gorgeous naked chest to his hand clutching the sheet around him. You saw his erection starting to rise, lifting the sheet slightly and you quickly looked up and away from his eyes.

“Oh! Okay…” you said, dropping your arms away from him and taking a step back.

You ran your hand through your hair, your heart racing even faster now knowing that you were turning him on.

“I guess…I mean…I guess I shouldn’t have barged in so early,” you said, still unable to look him in the eye as you thought about how big he was.

He smiled to himself and walked over to you. He brought his free hand back to your chin, gripped it, and brought your embarrassed eyes back to his.

“Hey. Don’t ever apologize for comin’ to see me, Y/N,” he said with a smile, giving your lips another slow kiss before looking back into your eyes and continuing.

“Hell, I thought it was a great way to wake up,” he admitted with a smile and a huff as he once again took in your strong beauty.

You shook your head and rolled your eyes with a reluctant smile. You loosely wrapped your arms around his neck and swayed back and forth in front of him.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” you said with another sweet smile as you closed your eyes and pushed your lips back into his.

He moaned happily when you pushed your tongue back into his mouth, grabbing ahold of it with his own and starting a whole new dance with your tongues. He wrapped his free arm around you and pulled you into him again. He kissed you with more hunger with every new lap as he slowly walked you two backward.

Your back hit the wall and you gasped in surprise at the impact, feeling his hard cock throbbing on the inside of your thigh.

He ripped his lips from yours and immediately pushed them onto the side of your neck, leaving hot and slow kisses up and down your neck.

“Oh, Daryl…” you whispered, closing your eyes with a smile as you enjoyed the amazing sensation of his lips on your skin.

He groaned softly at the sound of you calling out to him.

He stopped his kisses and nuzzled your neck, bringing his lips up to your ear. He kissed your earlobe sweetly a few times before whispering into it.

“I could get used to hearin’ ya moan for me, Princess,” he said, kissing your neck with more fervor.

You giggled as his breath hit your neck and tickled you, nuzzling your head sweetly into his as you held onto him. You leaned your head back to look in his eyes again.

“I could arrange that,” you said with a smile and a tilt of your head.

The sun was hitting you just right as it rose. Daryl got lost in your beauty again, looking down at your lips and slowly leaning back in.

Just as his lips pressed against yours you two heard the doorknob rattling as Travis tried to unlock it from the outside. You pulled your lips from him, looking over at him with worry.

“Hide in the bathroom. Shut the door,” Daryl said, kissing your lips one more time before letting you go.

You smiled happily at his quick kiss and ran into the bathroom, quietly shutting the door. Just seconds later you heard the door from the hallway open, you pressed your ear to the door, trying to hear what was going on.

You heard the door open and shut, locking again from the inside.

“Do ya mind?!” Daryl growled with annoyance tightening the grip on the sheet around him.

“I-I just came in to tell you-” Travis noticed the state of Daryl and quickly turned his back before continuing.

“I’ll be back with your breakfast shortly and then we have to meet Ms.- Ms. Y/N in the garden for work,” Travis said, stuttering when he said your name as he stood his back turned to Daryl.

Daryl noticed this and huffed, feeling a slight tug of jealousy in him.

“Alright, well just get out and I’ll get ready and you can leave me my tray right by the door there,” Daryl said pointing to the side wall next to the door.

Travis nodded.

“Okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes to drop off your tray,” Travis said and then walked out and locked the door behind him.

Daryl huffed with annoyance again, glaring the door down with disdain before turning and walking over to the bathroom door.

He opened it and you nearly fell into him from listening intently against the door. You staggered and quickly stood up. You put your hands on your hips and pretended not to notice your fumble.

Daryl smiled at this. You were so cute.

You noticed the look on his face, and you looked over at him sweet confusion.

“What?” you asked, adjusting your clothes under his curious gaze, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

“Nothin’,” he said, looking down at you for another second before reluctantly nodding his head back to the door.

“Ya better go, Y/N,” he said softly and with a hint of disappointment.

You sighed and nodded back in agreement, sharing the same disappointment.

“Yeah…” you agreed.

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you in a little bit,” you said and started to walk away from him and toward the door.

He grabbed your hand and stopped you.

You turned back and watched him walk swiftly into you again and push his lips back to yours for one more quick passionate kiss.

You moaned happily and looked up at him a little breathlessly as he pulled his lips from yours.

He smiled at the look on your face and raised his eyebrow.

“Like I said…I could get used to this,” he said with another small smile before he stepped back and looked seriously over at you.

“Now go, Y/N. I don’t need ya gettin’ in trouble,” Daryl said in a nearly commanding tone.

“Alright, alright…I’m goin’,” you said with a laugh.

You walked to the door, put your hand on the knob, and then looked back at him.

“I almost forgot what I came here to tell you,” you said, looking over at the dresser with the nudge of your nose.

“I think you’ll like what you find in that top drawer,” you said, looking back over at him with a smile.

“Don’t forget to lock the door behind me. I’ll see you soon,” you said and then turned, unlocked the door, and opened it.

You looked down the hallway and when you were sure it was clear you stepped out into it and closed the door. But not before sneaking one last glance and smile at Daryl.

You turned and quickly walked down the hallway, feeling so alive in that moment. Your whole body was buzzing as you thought about Daryl’s lips on yours and the way his body had felt on you. You were busy imagining his kiss and touch again when you ran smack dab into Negan’s shoulder with your own.

“Ow!” you said, stumbling backward with a furrowed brow as you rubbed your shoulder in frustration at the pain.

You looked over and noticed it was Negan. Your heart stopped.

“What are you doin’ up here?” Negan asked, looking you over with curiosity.

“I-I was…” you quickly thought of an excuse.

“I was just checking on Travis,” you said, trying to avoid Negan’s inquisitive glare.

“This early?” Negan asked with a devilish smile.

“Uh, yeah. I just thought we should get an early start today,” you said, fidgeting with your hair as you forced your eyes back to Negan’s and smiled innocently.

“Is that right?” Negan said with another cheeky smile.

He clicked his tongue a few times and then nodded his head up.

“Well, you know I don’t like you up here with these guys,” Negan said, looking at you seriously again.

“I know. I’m sorry,” you said, looking down sub-servantly.

“Aw, hell. It’s alright Y/N. Just don’t let it happen again,” Negan said with a pat on your shoulder and an easy smile.

You nodded, still staring at the ground.

“Good. Now, why don’t we get to work,” he said with another pat on your shoulder before he turned and walked off.

You took a deep breath and watched him walk away, thankful he hadn’t questioned anymore from you.

You turned around and noticed Travis walking up the stairs with Daryl’s tray full of food. You smiled to yourself, your stomach flipping at the thought of seeing him again soon.

You turned around with a dumbstruck smile and walked down and out of the building. Negan watched you as you smiled happily at the sight of Travis, laughing a little to himself before turning his attention to the everyday work of running this place.

You didn’t notice this as you bounded down the stairs and out the door, excited for another day with Daryl. You were out picking tomatoes for about a half-hour alone when you looked up and watched Daryl walk into the garden with Travis not far behind him.

You leaned back on your knees, wiping the dirt off of your hands and smiling as you watched him walk around the corner.

His gorgeous figure hit the early sunbeams and your heart skipped a beat as you took him in in his own outfit. He shook the hair out of his eyes and winced as the sun hit them in his leather vest and black jeans. His vest hung on his bare chest underneath it. He was the most beautiful man you had ever seen. You couldn’t help but love to see him in his own element for the very first time.

“Well look at you all cleaned up,” you said, standing up and walking over to him.

You almost wrapped around his neck and kissed him, longing to feel his kiss and his embrace again. But you noticed Travis behind him with a nervous, yet militant stance as he watched you two uneasily.

So, instead, you pulled lightly on the sides of his vest, allowing yourself one brief, happy, smile, and then turned your attention back to the garden. You dropped his vest and turned around, gesturing to the tomatoes.

“I thought today we would pick these ripe tomatoes and then I’d show you how to can some canned tomatoes,” you said, glancing back at him with a small laugh at his reaction to having to can food.

You braved it and walked back into him, smiling wider.

“Don’t worry, Dixon. I can show you the ropes,” you said, looking up at him flirtatiously until he smiled back at you.

You quickly turned and headed into the garden.

“I bet you can,” Daryl said under his breath with a smile to himself as he checked you out with his back turned to Travis.

You heard him and you felt his eyes roaming you. You smiled happily to yourself, feeling those beautiful butterflies again.

You walked back over to your spot and knelt down, continuing to pick the tomatoes, purposefully avoiding his eye contact.

He chuckled softly to himself and knelt down next to you.

You two shared a knowing smile before getting to work under Travis’s watchful eye. You two got to work picking the plentiful ripe tomatoes, one bucket at a time until you had a good five big buckets full.

“That should be good for quite a few jars,” you said, wiping the sweat off your brow as you looked over at the filled buckets with satisfaction.

Daryl nodded, locking eyes with Travis again.

“I can’t stand him always watchin’ us,” he said, looking over at Travis with a death glare.

You looked over at Daryl and then at Travis with a grimace on your face.

“Would you rather it be my brother?” you asked him, looking down at the ground with sadness in your heart.

He noticed.

He knocked your shoulder, causing you to look back up into his eyes. He gave you a small smile and shook his head.

“Nah. I just wish I could have ya all to myself,” he said, his smile widening as he thought again about your lips and body on his.

You smiled sweetly back at him.

You walked over to the buckets and picked two of them up, nudging your head forward to Daryl.

“Well, he is good for some things,” you said.

You looked over at Travis and whistled.

“Come on, Travis. Help us get these to the granary,” you instructed.

Travis nodded, holstering his gun. He then walked over and grabbed one of the buckets.

He went to reach for another, already struggling with the one bucket in his hand when Daryl leaned down and faced him, grabbing the bucket for himself.

“Don’t worry boy, I got it,” he said in his low gravel voice, glaring Travis down with contempt as he took the remaining two buckets and lifted them with ease.

Daryl and Travis followed you to the garage in silence. You dropped your buckets long enough to unlock the door and swing it open.

You turned back and gestured to them both.

“You can put the buckets up there on the table,” you instructed, looking over at the table set up inside the small building.

You avoided Daryl’s eyes as they both crossed the threshold, walking over and putting the buckets down on the long, white table. You picked up your two buckets, walked over, and did the same.

Once your buckets hit the table you looked over at Travis.

“Why don’t you get some rest. This will take a while,” you ordered, looking at him sternly, showing him he had little choice in the matter. 

He looked over at you, seeing you were serious, and nodded. Truth be told he had been missing his bed a lot since all of this.

“Yes ma’am,” he said, looking cautiously over at Daryl once more before turning and leaving as ordered.

Once Travis was out of eye line, you turned all over your attention back to Daryl. You looked over at him, smiling at the confused way he was looking at you. You walked into him, tucking his hair behind his ear.

“Isn’t this what you wanted? Us all alone?” you asked, quickly slipping away from him and twirling around the empty building.

You closed your eyes and smiled to yourself at the feeling of freedom. The air felt so fresh and the world felt anew, all thanks to this amazing man. You could feel his eyes on you as you spun. This just made you smile wider and with more love in your heart than you had felt in a very long time.

You were lost in your own little world, spinning around and around, loving this simple moment. You suddenly felt his strong hands grip your arms, stopping you in your tracks. You quickly opened your eyes and laughed out loud at the rush.

You lunged at him, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him in for a passionate kiss.

He quickly wrapped his arms around you and pulled you up into him, swirling his tongue around yours as he moaned eagerly at the feeling of your tongue dancing around with his again.

You moaned into his kiss when he wrapped you up so tightly. He set you on fire like no one else you had ever known. You craved him.

He pulled his lips reluctantly from yours, looking back at the open door to the building.

“Aren’t ya worried someone might see us?” he asked, looking down at you with those deep blue serious eyes of his.

You twirled out of his arms again and walked quickly over to the door of the building. You turned around and looked at him with a seductive smile as you closed the door and clicked the lock shut. You slowly walked back to him, your heart racing a little harder with each purposeful step toward him.

Once you reached him, you leaned up and kissed his lips.

“Better?” you asked with a sweet smile as your heals fell back to the floor and you placed your hands back on the sides of his neck.

He smiled to himself, unable to fight the feeling of his heart fluttering at the way you were looking up at him.

“Much,” he said as he leaned over and nudged his nose up into yours, nuzzling it a few times before closing his eyes and pressing his lips back to yours.

His kiss was slow and purposeful his tongue telling you everything you needed to know about his intentions as it swirled lovingly around yours.

You moaned softly when you felt his arms wrap around you again and pull you back into his body. Once you two were in full contact again his kiss became hungry, his tongue lapping around yours faster and with more need.

You whimpered when you felt his hard clothed cock rubbing softly up against your leg. You quickly pulled your lips from his at the feeling, slightly pushing him away with your hands on his shoulders. You looked up at him with innocent eyes, your heart pounding and your body throbbing for him at the feeling of him wanting you so badly.

Daryl’s hands came to your sides and he slowly pushed your bodies apart. He stepped back and shook his leg, looking away as he cleared his throat.

“Sorry,” he said looking away slightly ashamed, trying to relieve his cock and avoid your eye contact.

You gulped, smiling a little to yourself at his nervous change in disposition.

“Don’t be. It just caught me off guard,” you said, shaking your head with an embarrassed smile.

Daryl ventured a look over at you from the corner of your eye. When he saw you relax and smile he turned his full attention back to you.

You two stood there awkwardly for what seemed like forever, your body’s pinging silent electricity between the two of you until you finally spoke.

“Okay. Well, I guess we should get to work…” you said, trailing off as you looked over at the two tables set up behind you.

Daryl nodded, thankful to let the awkward moment slip silently past you two.

“Alright,” he said.

You nodded again. You walked over and reluctantly unlocked and opened the door, knowing you couldn’t have it locked for too long before someone would notice.

You turned back and looked at Daryl gesturing to the tables behind you.

“Come on. I’ll show you how to make some amazing canned tomatoes!” you said with a confident smile as you walked over to the tables.

Daryl nodded and walked over beside you.

“Okay, so I have this laid out so we can kind of work together on this. It goes so much faster with more than one person,” you said walking over and picking up one of the buckets of tomatoes and setting it on the ground in between you two.

You picked up a couple of tomatoes and put them in the lukewarm bucket of water on the table in between you two.

“So, after we wash them, we will chop them up into sections. Once we do that we go over and put them in the cans and can them. So, let’s start chopping,” you instructed as you went to work filling up the bowl of water with tomatoes from the bucket below.

You two went to work chopping the tomatoes next to each other, every so often Daryl would look over at you and smile to himself.

“Where’d ya learn this?” Daryl asked as he pushed another bowl of chopped tomatoes to you.

“My mom taught me a lot about canning when I was younger,” you said, looking far away with a sweet smile as you thought about your mother.

Just then, a few other soldiers came in. They walked over to the table and inspected your progress.

“Can I help you?” you asked, with annoyance at the intrusion.

One of the men scratched himself and walked up opposite of you and grabbed a big tomato. He smiled at you as he brought it to his lips and took a big bite, juice dripping down his chin as he did so.

“Nothin’ sweetheart…” he said taking another defiant bite while staring you down with amusement.

“We just thought we’d come by and check out the product,” he said, licking his lips as he looked you blatantly up and down.

You glared right back at him with pure anger as you watched him finish one of the bigger tomatoes. He reached for another and you slapped his hand.

“These are for everyone,” you said, looking over at him with anger.

The man looked over at his friend and chuckled as if you and your words were a joke to him. His friend laughed alongside him, reaching for his own tomato from the bowl.

Before he could grab one, Daryl’s hand was wrapped tightly around his wrist. Daryl twisted his wrist until the man cried out in pain.

The man looked over at Daryl with pained and nervous eyes as Daryl held his wrist tightly.

“Did she stutter?” Daryl growled, glaring the man down with pure hot hatred.

The man retracted his hand, rubbing his wrist with his other hand. He looked over at his friend, who was obviously the “brains” of the operation, with angry disgust.

The other man turned his attention to Daryl, slowly walking around the table to face Daryl. Daryl puffed out his chest with a look of hard resolve, turning to meet the man head-on, with you securely behind him.

This made the man scoff, looking you over slowly again before bringing his dead eyes back to Daryl’s.

“And who the fuck told you that you could speak, slave?” he asked, cocking his head to the side as he stared Daryl down with arrogant dominance.

The man drew his gun and put it to Daryl’s forehead.

Daryl didn’t budge or falter.

“Enough!” you commanded. The man looked over at you and scoffed at you too.

“Bitch, your brother isn’t here to save you. So, I’d suggest that you just keep that whiny mouth shut,” the man said, looking you over with easy amusement.

“I mean unless you want to use it for something else,” he said, grabbing his crotch as he looked back over at his friend and laughed.

“Hey. You don’t get to talk to her like that,” Daryl growled, leaning into the gun on his forehead.

The man turned his attention back to Daryl and scoffed again.

“Yeah? And who the fuck do you think you are to tell me shit about shit?” he asked, pressing the gun harder into his forehead.

“Just a guy sick of pricks like you who think they can just take whatever they want,” Daryl growled, standing his ground.

“Seriously, back the fuck off,” you said, aiming your gun now at the man who had his pointed at Daryl at point-blank.

The man’s friend reached for his gun and pointed it at you. You quickly shifted your gun over to him.

“What the fuck is this?” Negan’s voice rang out through the building as he entered the scene.

Both of the men quickly dropped their guns and holstered them, looking over at each other with fear in their eyes at Negan’s entrance.

You rolled your eyes at the pathetic ‘men’ and holstered your own gun, looking over at your brother with frustration in your eyes.

The minute the gun was dropped from Daryl’s head he propelled his fist forward and punch the man as hard as he could in the face. One swift punch and the man stumbled back, cupping his eye and glaring over at Daryl.

“Prick,” Daryl growled, glaring right back at him.

Negan walked over to the two men with pure anger in his eyes.

Both men turned to face him and stood at attention.

Negan walked back and forth in front of them a few times before stopping at the man who had pointed the gun at you. He leaned in real close until his face was right next to his. He leaned his head to the side and finally spoke.

“Excuse the shit out of me, but did I see what I think I saw? Did I just see you pointing a gun at my little sister?” Negan asked, not budging as he invaded the man’s space and stared him down, waiting for an answer.

“Sorry, sir…” he stammered, looking down at the floor with his heart pounding.

Negan brought his gloved finger to his chin and pulled it up forcing the man’s eyes back to his.

“You’re sorry?” he growled.

“You are damn lucky that I’m in a good mood today. Because otherwise? Otherwise, me and Lucille here would be having batting practice on you, you piece of human shit,” Negan said, pushing the man’s shoulder and making him stumble backward.

“Turn the fuck around and apologize to her. NOW.” Negan ordered, pointing Lucille into his chest.

The man obeyed, turning around to face you.

“I’m sorry,” he said, bowing his head in shame.

You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms, glaring over at the man.

“It better not happen again. Because next time I’ll shoot,” you said.

You looked over at the other asshole who had started it.

“And you, if you so much as look at him the wrong way, I’ll let him finish what he started,” you ordered.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, nodding in agreement.

“Now, get the fuck out of here before I change my mind and beat both of your asses to death!” Negan’s voice boomed through the small building, pushing Lucille into each of their backs.

The men quickly walked out of the building and scurried back to work.

Negan walked over to you, looking you over with hard concern.

“You alright?” he asked, his eyes coming back to yours.

You nodded.

“Yeah. They’re just assholes trying to start shit,” you said, looking back over at your brother with annoyance.

Negan nodded, relieved to see that you were okay.

He looked over at Daryl and grinned.

“You got spunk. I’ll give ya that,” Negan said with another chuckle before turned and walking back toward the door, swinging his bat over his shoulder as he did so.

“Back to work,” he said and then walked out of the door, shutting it securely behind him.

Once the door closed, you turned to Daryl and brought your hand to the side of his face.

“Are you okay?” you asked with loving concern in your eyes.

He huffed and smiled at your worry. It made his heart skip a beat.

He nodded.

“Yeah. I’m alright,” he said.

You brought your other hand to his face, cupping it with both hands, and leaned in.

“I just found you. Don’t leave me yet,” you said with anxious eyes at the idea of losing him.

You leaned over and gave him a big hug, closing your eyes with sadness at the thought.

Daryl stood there awkwardly for a minute, taken aback by the intense hug from you. He slowly brought his arms around you and softly hugged you back.

You hugged him tightly for a few minutes, listening to the sound of his heart beating in his chest and taking in his scent.

“I hate this place,” you said softly into his chest, letting a tear fall from your eyes.

Daryl hugged you a little tighter at your words, not sure what to say to comfort you.

You took a deep breath and let him go, looking back at the chopped tomatoes on the table and the buckets still full of tomatoes.

“I guess we better get back to work,” you said, reaching down and grabbing a couple of tomatoes and bringing them up to the table to chop.

Daryl nodded and walked over until he was standing beside you again. He grabbed a few tomatoes and began chopping again.

You two worked together in silence. Both of you looking over at one another every few minutes with curiosity.

You were wondering what Daryl’s plans were. You knew he wanted to get home to his people. You knew he wanted to leave. And who could blame him? You couldn’t. But you also couldn’t stand the thought of him leaving you all alone here.

Daryl was wondering why the hell you cared so much about him. He wasn’t used to such open affection, especially with someone as sweet as you were. He wondered what this was between you two and what that meant for his future.

After chopping up the tomatoes, you put them into a big boiling pot, dropping as much in as you could. You added water and a few other spices that you had on hand into the pot. You started the burner underneath and stirred the tomatoes around as the water heated up.

“Will you get me the box of canning jars over in the corner over there?” you asked as you stirred away.

Daryl nodded and walked over to the corner of the building. You watched as he bent down and grabbed the box.

You smiled to yourself as you watched his strong arms flex as he stood back up. He was so fucking gorgeous! You were staring over at him with impure thoughts running through your head when he turned around to walk back toward you.

He noticed the look on your face as you took him in and shifted his legs back at forth nervously. Were you really checking him out right now? It drove him crazy how much you seemed to want him.

You brought your eyes up to his and blushed a little, your heart speeding up as he walked toward you with a little smirk on his lips now.

He brought the box over and set it down next to you. He then walked over and stood behind you, his body just inches from yours.

“Is there anythin’ else ya want from me?” he asked, leaning over and whispering into your ear.

You closed your eyes and shivered at his close proximity and his words.

You were about to lean back into his body and succumb completely to him when you heard the bubbles in the pot starting to pop.

“Ask me again later,” you said, looking up at him with apologetic want before forcing your mind back to the task at hand.

Daryl slowly ran his hands around your sides and wrapped you up into him. He leaned over and kissed your neck a few times and then brought his lips back to whisper in your ear.

“Count on it,” he said, trying to ignore the hardon you had just given him.

“Hand me that jar. Let’s get this done,” you said with a hazy smile over at him.

He nodded, handing you a jar. He watched you put the tomatoes in the jar.

You handed it to him. Then he put the lid on and handed you another empty jar. You two worked like clockwork until all of the jars were filled with tomatoes.

After another hour or so, you turned the burner off and wiped the sweat off your brow, looking over at the jars with accomplishment.

You looked over at Daryl with excitement again, locking happy eyes with his. You walked into him, pushing your hands up his chest as you did so. You licked your lips and leaned in for a slow kiss. You pushed your tongue into his mouth and swirled your tongue hungrily around his. You wanted him more than you had ever wanted anyone before.

Daryl groaned happily into your mouth, swirling his tongue around yours with pure pleasure as he wrapped his arms around you again, this time with more confidence.

You sighed happily at the feeling of his arms around you again, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him in closer as your kiss heated up. You two kissed each other passionately until you were both ready to explode.

You forced your lips off of his, looking up at him with pure wanting eyes as you panted with anticipation for him.

He looked over at you with pure need in his eyes, looking slightly angry that you had stopped them.

You smiled at this. You leaned over and whispered into his ear.

“Come on…” you said and turned to start toward the door.

“Where are we goin’?” Daryl asked, following closely behind you.

You looked back at him with a smile.

“Back to your room,” you said with another knowing smile at him before turning your attention ahead of you.

He stayed close behind you, letting himself roam your beautiful body with excitement before you two exited the building.

You walked outside and grimaced at the bleak scene in front of you. You watched as the men, women, and children slaved away to keep this place running. You looked up the building and grimaced at the Savior soldiers who were stationed on the second-floor balcony armed with machine guns and watching as the masses worked their fingers to the bone beneath them.

You looked up at the grey sky as the sun began to set and the cool wind blew through your hair. Winter was almost here. Which unfortunately meant more grey days in this depressing place. You noticed Travis walking toward you and you waved hello to him and stopped.

“Hey, thanks for the nap Y/N. I haven’t been getting much sleep since I’ve been on guard duty,” he admitted yawning and stretching a little as he tried to wake up.

“It’s okay,” you said, looking over at Daryl with a small smile, who was beside you now, and then back at Travis.

“I was thinking that I would give you a break for the night. I’ll lock Daryl in tonight and get him in the morning. Everyone deserves a day off here and there. Just give me the key and I’ll make sure he is locked up tight for the night,” you said giving Travis a genuine and thankful smile for all he had been doing for you.

“Are you sure?” Travis asked with uncertainty as he reached into his pocket and handed you the key.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. The one thing you can do for me before you take the night off is grabbed those jars of canned tomatoes we just canned and bring them to the storage room,” you said.

“Sure, ma’am,” Travis said, then he looked warily over at Daryl who stood there obediently by your side.

He then tipped his hat at you and walked away to complete his task.

You looked over at Daryl once Travis was gone and smiled happily over at him, resisting your major urge to lean over and kiss him.

“This way…” you said, nodding your head to the side and continuing to walk toward the entrance of the Sanctuary.

You nodded and smiled politely at the workers who looked up at you with part fear and part respect. You couldn’t stand how many of them were afraid of you because of your brother. But you tried not to think about it. What could you do? You understood why everyone was scared of him and it only made sense that they might think you are the same way.

You walked into the building and climbed the stairs. Daryl stayed behind you and stoic as you led him back to his bedroom. When you got to the door you unlocked it with the key, looking over at Daryl and gesturing with your arm for him to walk inside.

“This way,” you said, trying to keep a stern face, knowing that anyone could be watching you right now.

Daryl wanted to smile but he couldn’t. So, he stood there obediently in front of you.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said and walked militantly inside.

You walked inside after him, checking to make sure the hallway was empty before doing so. You quickly shut and locked the door. You turned around, locking eyes with his again, feeling your heart pounding in your chest and your adrenaline running as you walked back into him. 

You placed your hands on his chest and leaned in for a sweet kiss on his lips before dropping your heels back to the floor.

“That was close back there,” you said with sad eyes as you thought again about losing him.

Daryl noticed your sad worry and he tilted his head sideways, staring curiously over at you.

He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled your body into his, looking deep into your eyes before speaking.

“You were worried about me?” he asked, his heart skipping a beat at the thought.

You nodded your face scrunched up with worry as you thought about how differently that could have gone.

He smiled, his heart melting a little more for you with every second he spent with you. He leaned over and ghost his lips to yours until your beautiful eyes were staring back up into his.

“You’ve got to be the sweetest thing I’ve met in my life, Y/N…Even in a place like this you are just the sweetest thing,” he said, looking you over with happy awe.

You smiled sweetly at his words, running your hands up his chest and wrapping them around his neck.

“Does that mean you’d maybe want to keep me?” you asked with happy hope in your eyes.

His smile widened at your behest.

“Are ya asking me to keep you?” he asked, running his hands softly up and down your back lightly with his fingertips.

“Only if you want me…” you said, your heart racing with nervous anticipation.

He leaned in and kissed your lips sweetly a few times before leaning over and whispering in your ear.

“Oh, I want you…I want you bad,” he whispered before pushing his lips to your neck and devouring it with hungry kisses.

“Ohh Daryl…” you moaned happily at the feeling, closing your eyes and smiling to yourself as you leaned back and tilted your head further to the side to allow his lips all the access they wanted.

He smiled to himself into your neck at how willing you were for him to be all over you. He kissed his way back up to your ear, nuzzling around it with his nose sweetly a few times before whispering into it as his arms wrapped you in a tight hug.

“What’s a sweet thing like you want with a nobody like me?” he asked, kissing under your ear a few more sweet times before leaning back and looking curiously over at you.

You opened your eyes and looked over at him, smiling over at him as you ran your hands up into his hair and massaged it lovingly.

“I’d hardly say you are a nobody, Daryl,” you said with a sweet smile, leaning over to kiss his lips softly before looking up at him and adding, “…In fact, I’d say you are just about as amazing as they come.”

Daryl jut his head back and looked at you like you were crazy for a second before his face melted into an appreciative smile.

“I was just about to say the same thing about you, darlin’,” he said, kissing your lips appreciatively as he walked you both over to his bed.

You giggled happily, kissing his lips back repeatedly as you felt him walk you towards his bed.

He laid you down on it and you both quickly climbed up it together, until your head hit his pillow and he was on top of you straddling you. He then turned his now hungry and serious eyes back to yours as he held his plank stance over your body.

He looked you over as if was asking himself some internal questions.

You couldn’t help but smile up at him and run your hands happily up and down his chest.

“What are you thinking?” you asked with just as much curiosity to find out what was running through his mind about you.

“I was just thinkin’ that I can’t believe I found someone like you, after everythin’,” he said, smiling so happily down at you.

You smiled happily at his words, running your hands up and down his chest a few times and then slid them up to cup the sides of his beautiful face.

“You know what? I was thinking the same thing,” you said and leaned up to kiss his sweet lips again.

You laid back down on the pillow and ran your hands back up into his hair, massaging it softly.

“So… then I’m yours?” you asked with hopeful eyes.

This caused him to smile another happy smile and he nodded, leaning down to ghost his lips with yours. He looked down at the smile on your lips and then back up into your eyes.

“Yeah, you’re mine,” he replied, smiling softly back at you for a moment before pushing his lips back to yours.

You moaned happily, wrapping your arms around him and pulling his lips further into yours. He kissed your lips sweetly a few times before pushing his tongue into your mouth and grabbing a hold of your tongue, swirling it around as open and passionately as he ever had.

He sank his body down onto yours as he sank into your kiss, groaning at the contact of his body sinking onto yours. His eyes were closed, and he was intently swirling his tongue around yours in the most passionate dance you had ever experienced in a kiss.

You ran your hands up and down his back, kissing him back eagerly as you closed your own eyes and gave way to your desire for this man.

He swirled his tongue around yours faster growling to himself as you turned him on beyond belief. He ripped his lips off of yours and buried his head in your neck.

“Fuck, Y/N…” he groaned, panting heavily as he tried to fight his hard-on.

You smiled to yourself as you felt his hips slowly rock onto your body a few times before he forced himself to stop.

You ran your hand lovingly up and down his neck.

“Daryl?” you asked quietly.

He leaned back and looked back into your eyes at your behest.

“Yeah, Y/N?” he replied.

“Do you want me, Daryl?” you asked, running your hands up to massage his hair with a look of longing in your eyes.

He huffed with surprise as if you even had to ask?

“More than anythin’…” he whispered down to you lovingly, with the sweetest most honest smile on his lips.

You smiled sweetly back, running your thumbs up and down his cheeks as you looked deep into his eyes.

“I want you too...Please take me, Daryl,” you said with pure want now in your pleading eyes, needing everything from him in this moment you two finally had alone together.

His smile widened and he looked down at you with happy disbelief for another moment. He leaned down and nodded, his lips softly running up and down yours a few loving times before he whispered back to you.

“Finally, somethin’ I wanna do,” he said with a mischievous grin before pushing his lips back to yours.

He immediately pushed his tongue into your mouth. He grabbed your tongue with his own and swirled them around together with perfect passion.

You moaned happily into his mouth, speeding your tongue up around his as he turned you on in an instant. You almost immediately began to rock your hips up into his as your tongues danced around one another. You tried to pull him even further into him as you rocked your body up into his with more fervor.

This action caused him to growl and pull his lips from yours. He looked down at you with a more dangerous stare.

You giggled at his change in demeanor, loving how much he wanted you. You ran your hand up and cupped his face looking up at him in awe, as if this moment wasn’t real, as if he were just a dream.

He dove his tongue back into your mouth, swirling his tongue around yours with more intent this time. He started to slowly rock his hips up and down into your body, causing you to moan happily into his mouth.

You sped your tongue at the feeling of his body rocking on top of you, groaning in frustration as he heated you up. You ripped your lips away from his, looking up at him with pure need in your eyes as you silently begged him to take it further.

He nodded in agreement, kissing your lips sweetly a few more times before rolling off of you and off of the bed.

He stood above you, taking in the beauty that was you looking up at him and wanting him, and only him. It made him speechless for a moment before he cleared his throat and took off his vest. He dropped it to the floor, looking around nervously as your eyes roamed his now half-naked body.

You laughed a little to yourself at his self-conscious behavior. You sat up and then stood up so that you were standing in front of him. You looked up into his eyes as you ran your hands hungrily up and down his bare chest.

“You’re gorgeous,” you said, licking your lips as you let your eyes roam his amazing chest with desire.

Daryl huffed, looking over at you like you were being ridiculous again.

You noticed this as you locked eyes with his again.

“What you don’t believe me?” you asked, shaking your head in disbelief at the thought.

You ran your hands up and wrapped them around his neck. You leaned up to his ear and whispered into it.

“Trust me, Daryl…you are so, damn, gorgeous,” you said, nuzzling your nose into his neck, kissing it sweetly before dropping back in front of him.

Your eyes never left his as you reached over and took his hands in yours. You brought them to the bottom of your tank top, guiding his hands down.

He looked down and gulped with nervous anticipation as he placed his hands on your sides.

You lifted your arms in the air, causing him to look up at you again. You smiled and nodded.

“Go ahead. I want you to,” you encouraged.

He nodded and looked down again. He grabbed the hem of your tank top and slowly pulled it up and over your head. He dropped it to the floor as his eyes roamed up your stomach to your naked breasts.

“Damn,” he nearly whimpered to himself at the sight.

You smiled, bringing your hands down to the button of your jean shorts. You popped them open and unzipped them. You wiggled out of them, kicking out of your boots and shoes and then your shorts. You stood there now naked except for your pink panties.

You looked hungrily over at the button of Daryl’s jeans.

“Your turn,” you said, walking into him.

You unbuttoned and unzipped his pants and then stepped back.

Daryl kicked out of his boots and looked over at you warily one more time before bravely pushing his pants down to the floor. He kicked out of them and looked away, feeling your eyes all over his body. He felt uneasy. He wanted you so bad but he hadn’t been with many women in his life, especially someone like you.

You looked down and nearly gasped when your eyes met his big, throbbing cock. He was so big and so hard for you! This made wet in an instant. You rubbed your thighs together, trying to create some relief. Your heart was racing at the thought that this was really happening.

You looked up at him with playful eyes and noticed his discomfort. You took his hand in yours, causing him to look cautiously back over at you.

“Come on…Lay down,” you said softly gesturing to your bed.

He cleared his throat and nodded. He crawled back onto the bed and onto his back. He looked at you with nervous excitement, the same thing you were feeling too, as his cock stood at full attention.

He watched you bring your hands down and push your panties down. You stepped out of them and climbed onto the bed. You straddled his stomach, looking over at him with reassurance for a moment before reaching behind you and gently grabbing his cock.

You moaned happily to yourself as you ran the tip up and down your now slick folds, teasing yourself with it.

Daryl nearly shot up at the feeling. Instead, his hands came over and gripped your hips harshly.

You looked over at him with a teasing smile at his reaction.

“Do you want to be inside me, Daryl?” you asked, teasing him mercilessly with your actions.

He nodded rapidly, gripping your hips harder with anticipation.

You stared down into his eyes as you brought his tip to your entrance and pushed him inside you.

“Ah!” you cried out as you sat down on his cock and filled yourself with him.

You brought your hands down to brace on his chest, looking down at him with disbelief at how he filled you to the brim.

“Oh, God, Daryl?” you whimpered, slowly starting to ride his huge cock.

His eyes rolled back in his head and his jaw clenched as he tried to control himself while you got used to him. You were so, fucking, wet and tight that it took everything in him not to crazy inside you immediately. He held onto your hips and tried not to move a muscle.

You slowly started riding his cock, getting used to his size more with every second you rode him. Soon you were whimpering happily at the feeling of his big cock inside you.

You opened your eyes and looked down at Daryl who was looking up at you in disbelief, nearly shaking as he watched you riding him like the queen you were.

You smiled at the look on his face and dropped your body’s weight on top of his, running your hands quickly up into his hair. You slowed your rhythm and stared deeply into his eyes, loving the feeling of his hands on your hips guiding your motion.

He looked up at you with a silent pleading in his eyes and slowly started hitting his hips up into yours.

“Yes…” you moaned in response, looking down at him and nodding with pleasure at his actions.

You two started rocking together, finding one another’s rhythm and then finding one together. You looked down into his eyes with pure pleasure and disbelief as he started to move in and out inside of you. He felt so fucking good. You had never felt so good with anyone before.

He held your hips with his strong hands as slowly rocked up and down on top of him. You pushed yourself back up, bracing his chest with your hands. You closed your eyes and smiled to yourself as you found his rhythm, moaning softly at the amazing feeling. You writhed on top of him, enjoying every inch of him.

You were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He watched you enjoying his cock for a few more thrusts until he gripped your hips even harder and slammed himself uncontrollably into you at record speed.

“Oh! Oh?!” you cried out, riding his cock faster in response, feeling yourself building toward ecstasy.

You opened your eyes and brought them back down to his, your mouth now agape and whimpering for him to continue with every hard hit.

“Oh, Daryl…Don’t stop…Yes!” you cried out as you bounced faster onto his cock, looking over at him with begging eyes for him to continue.

“Fuckkk…,” Daryl groaned at the sight of you begging for him.

It only spurred him on, hitting up into you faster and with more urgency as he felt his high coming too.

“Oh, shit?... Oh, God?…” you groaned with happy confusion, closing your eyes again as you concentrated on your high, bouncing onto his cock with pure intent this time.

Daryl gritted his teeth, clenching them together as he slammed his cock back inside you as soon as your pussy slammed down onto his, trying like hell to let you cum first.

You bounced as fast as you could up and down on top of him faster and harder until you fell back down onto his cock and exploded, grinding your hips deep into his as your orgasm hit and filling yourself completely with his cock.

“Oh, fuck?!!” you moaned in sweet surprise at the amazing orgasm that shot through your body in an instant.

You smiled to yourself, your eyes still closed as you slowly rocked up and down his core, enjoying the pure sensation running through you right now. You pushed yourself up and brought your hands from his chest to your breasts, gripping them roughly and prolonging the amazing feeling.

“Damn, Y/N,” Daryl nearly whined.

You were so wet and pulsating all over his cock. Playing with your breasts too just sent him over the edge.

He hit up into you as fast as he could, groaning happily here and there.

You looked down at him and gave him a playful smile, bouncing up and down on his cock again as fast as you could to get him there.

He groaned happily at this, slamming his cock up and down faster and faster. His hands gripped your hips roughly, pinning your pussy down onto his cock. He jackhammered into your hilt and finally came deep inside you.

“Fuck?!” he grunted in surprised bliss, his eyes closing immediately and holding his cock deep into your pulsating hilt.

He growled like a wild animal, slowly rocking his cock in and out of you as he enjoyed his high.

After a few moments, his eyes opened. He looked up at you panting with blissful disbelief and looking down at him in happy awe.

You tucked the hair behind your ear, smiling down at him sweetly at the look on his face. You leaned back down, pushing your naked body back on top of his with him still deep inside you.

You looked over his gorgeous face, trying to memorize everything about this moment. The way he felt inside you. The way he had just made you feel. The way you know it made him feel. Everything. You felt closer to him than anyone else in this fucked up world. And you prayed it wouldn’t end.

You focused on Daryl’s lips, his sweet, sweet lips. Those lips that had treated you so right with his words and his kisses. You leaned in and pushed your lips to them, closing your eyes and moaning softly as they made contact again. You kissed his lips gently a few times before pushing your tongue in his mouth and rolling it passionately around with his a few times, letting him know how happy you were with what just happened.

You pulled your lips reluctantly away from his and brought your eyes back to his, which were looking at you curiously again.

“Just where did you come from?” Daryl asked, looking up at you with bewildered admiration in his eyes, still sure you were some sort of dream.

You smiled, laughing a little as you laid down on top of him, nuzzling your nose into his neck.

“You know where I’m from, Daryl…” you said with a sleepy smile.

Daryl nodded, bringing one hand down to grab the base of his cock and pull himself out of you.

You lifted your hips to help him and then settled back down on top of him.

His arms came around and wrapped around you, securing you into him as he rested his head on top of yours thinking about how much meeting you had changed so many things in his life so quickly and for the better. Then he thought about his family back home, being brutalized by the monster that was your brother.

How would these two worlds ever fit together?

How could he ever keep you the way that he truly wanted to, more and more with each day that passed?

As if you were reading his thoughts, you leaned over and kissed his neck and then whispered in his ear.

“Daryl?” you whispered, looking into the distance with a worried look on your face, clinging a little tighter to him.

“Yeah?” he asked, running his fingertips softly up and down your back, looking over at you with curiosity.

“Will you take me with you?” you asked him as you looked up at him nervously.

“Where?” he asked.

“Anywhere but here,” you answered, hugging his body tightly and kissing the side of his neck sweetly again.

Daryl hugged you tightly and kissed the top of your head.

“Yeah… I’ll take ya with me, Y/N,” he said with pure sincerity as he realized that he would do anything to keep you safe, happy, and by his side from now on.

You smiled, kissing his neck again as you closed your eyes and nuzzled into him again, already falling asleep in his strong, safe arms.

“I just want to be where you are… and away from here once and for all…,” you said, sighing happily as you drifted off to sleep with visions of you two both escaping this place together and living happily ever after.

Daryl waited until he felt you fall asleep and then looked back down at you with nervous, admiring eyes.

“Me too, Y/N,” he whispered, kissing the top of your head again before focusing on the ceiling above him and all of the questions he had.

After a while, the clearest, most prominent question remained.

How the hell was he going to not only get out of here but also bring you with him?

You fell asleep feeling so safe and happy in his arms, falling asleep more effortlessly than you ever had remembered. You couldn’t wait to have a real-life outside of these walls with the amazing, loving man named Daryl Dixon…


End file.
